Visitor gets two-day jail term for breech of emergency rules

Man arrived at airport without testing; planned to stay on beach

WAILUKU -- A man who said he was going to stay on a beach when he arrived on Maui on a flight from Los Angeles agreed to return to the Mainland after he was arrested Tuesday for violating COVID-19 public health emergency rules.

Matthew Tittor, 42, was sentenced to a two-day jail term, which he had already served, after he pleaded no contest to the charge Wednesday afternoon in Wailuku District Court.

He appeared in court by videoconference from the Maui Police Department cellblock.

When Tittor arrived at Kahului Airport at 5:02 p.m. Tuesday, he didn't have a negative pre-travel COVID-19 test and didn't have a valid place of lodging to self-quarantine for 14 days, as required under Gov. David Ige's emergency proclamation, police said.

Deputy Prosecutor Rodney Char said visitors without negative COVID-19 tests are required to provide their quarantine location, which could include a hotel or residence of a family member or friend.

Deputy Public Defender David Pullman argued that Tittor hadn't violated the law because he filled out the required self-quarantine form. "He gave his address, which was a beach location," Pullman said.

Char said Maui County Code specifies that quarantine lodging for visitors be at a hotel or motel on the county's approved list.

"It is a unique situation," Char said. "There's a pandemic going on."

Judge Douglas Sameshima found that there was probable cause for the misdemeanor charge based on Tittor's inability to pass the quarantine screening process because he was unable to provide a valid place of lodging. "I don't think saying 'I'm going to live on a beach' qualifies," Sameshima said.

Pullman said Tittor decided to plead guilty to the charge because he wanted to go home.

Although police said he is from Missouri, Tittor said in court that he was from Salt Lake City, Utah, and wanted to return there.

As a condition of his sentence, Tittor was to take a flight back to the Mainland at 10:50 p.m. Wednesday and would be taken to the airport by police, Char said.

"All you got to do is get on the airplane tonight and go away," Sameshima told Tittor.

Tittor also pleaded guilty to a charge of consuming liquor on a public highway or public sidewalk in Lahaina on Oct. 18, 2019.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.