The Maui News

WAILUKU — Bail was set at $75,000 for a man who was arrested for allegedly using a forged Florida driver’s license to buy a vehicle from a Kihei auto dealership last year.

Robert Akuna, 26, who gave no local address, is charged with first-degree identity theft, first-degree theft, first-degree forgery, second-degree theft, three counts of second-degree forgery, unauthorized possession of confidential personal information and sale or manufacture of a deceptive identification document.

The theft of the 2018 Toyota 4Runner occurred June 18, 2019, from KarMART Volkswagen of Maui, according to a complaint filed against Akuna.

During his initial appearance Tuesday in Lahaina District Court, convening in Wailuku, Deputy Prosecutor Byron Fujieda asked for bail to be increased to $100,000 for Akuna.

He is on felony probation for unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and, if convicted of the first-degree identity theft charge, would face a mandatory minimum prison term of six years and eight months, Fujieda said.

“These charges are very serious in nature,” Fujieda said. “There was a great deal of deception, as well as loss of monies and a vehicle from KarMART, as well as the financial agencies that approved a loan to this individual.”

Deputy Public Defender Gustavo Gonzalez asked for bail to be decreased or for Akuna to be released on supervision. Akuna is a lifelong Maui resident who has been working at a furniture store for three months since completing treatment at Sand Island Treatment Center on Oahu, Gonzalez said.

He said Akuna was “choosing to live houseless and continuing to remain clean and sober.”

Judge Kirstin Hamman kept bail at $75,000 for Akuna. He was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to have no contact with the victim. Akuna also was ordered to stay away from KarMART and its employees.