Bail was increased for two men who appeared in court Thursday on charges of robbing gas station stores in Kahului and Kihei.
Bronson Foster Benson, 21, who gave no local address, had his bail increased to $400,000 for two counts each of first-degree robbery and using a firearm in the commission of a separate felony.
Deputy Prosecutor Mark Simonds said Foster Benson brandished a handgun and demanded money from store clerks during the robberies, which occurred about 45 minutes apart Tuesday morning.
Namon Parks, 31, of Waianae, Oahu, had his bail increased to $200,000 for two counts of first-degree robbery.
Parks acted as a lookout, standing at the door during the robberies, Simonds said.
Police said the robberies occurred at about 5:05 a.m. Tuesday at Port Town Chevron on Kaahumanu Avenue and at about 6:05 a.m. Tuesday at Kihei Chevron Gas Station on South Kihei Road.
The robbers fled after taking $300 cash from Port Town Chevron and an estimated $131 from Kihei Chevron, police said.
After being tentatively identified as suspects, Foster Benson and Parks were arrested at 4:58 p.m. Tuesday in a sedan in a parking lot at 1847 S. Kihei Road, police said. A 20-year-old Haiku man in the car also was arrested, then released pending further investigation of robbery charges.
On Nov. 1, Foster Benson and Parks were arrested in Kihei after a woman reported that a handgun was pointed at her when she approached a man who was using a baseball bat to smash windows of her son's vehicle on Waipuilani Road. Foster Benson and Parks were released after posting bail in that case.
Simonds said that case, also involving a firearm, is under investigation.
In asking that Foster Benson's bail be increased from $100,000, Simonds said the defendant has six convictions for contempt of court.
Deputy Public Defender Jasmine King argued that the higher bail was excessive.
"He's lived on Maui his entire life," she said. "He has nowhere to run."
Wailuku District Judge Adrianne Heely increased bail to $400,000 for Foster Benson and ordered that he stay away from the two gas stations and the three employees who were there when the robberies occurred.
Parks also was ordered to stay away from the gas stations and employees by Wailuku District Judge Kelsey Kawano, who increased Parks' bail to $200,000.
Simonds said Parks has prior convictions for first-degree robbery and kidnapping, as well as drug and theft offenses.
A preliminary hearing for both men was set for Monday afternoon in Wailuku District Court.
* This article includes a correction from the original published on Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. The Wailuku District Judge Adrianne Heely's name was misspelled in the story. The Maui News apologizes for the error.
