The Maui News

WAILUKU — A man who absconded after being given a chance to participate in the Maui Drug Court program was sentenced Thursday to prison terms totaling 10 years.

In imposing the consecutive sentencing for two criminal cases, 2nd Circuit Judge Kelsey Kawano told Janden Jarnesky that the court had “exhausted all efforts to provide you rehabilitative services in the community.”

Jarnesky, 40, of Waiehu was on probation in a 2015 case and was facing new charges when he was admitted into the program offering intensive treatment and supervision as an alternative to incarceration in May 2021.

“He was given the golden opportunity to enter Drug Court,” said Deputy Prosecutor Kenton Werk. “Once in the program, it became quickly clear he was not interested in living a clean and law-abiding life.”

He said Jarnesky spent only four months in the program, “never actually engaging in treatment.”

Instead, Jarnesky demonstrated an “unwavering commitment” to continued drug abuse and “allegedly used the program to smuggle drugs into the Maui Community Correctional Center,” Werk said.

Jarnesky’s criminal history of 33 convictions, including 14 for felony offenses, dates to 2003 when he was 21 years old and was sentenced to a five-year prison term for second- and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, Werk said. He said a first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug charge, which carries a potential 20-year prison term, was dismissed in a plea agreement, and Jarnesky was sentenced to the shorter prison term as a youthful offender.

A decade later, in 2013, he was convicted of drunken driving, driving without a license, contempt of court and failure to appear.

In 2016, Jarnesky was placed on probation for second-degree theft and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, only to have his probation revoked in less than 10 months because he was using drugs, Werk said. He said Jarnesky was given another chance on probation, then faced another revocation because he had stopped reporting to his probation officer.

He was facing prison when he was charged with theft offenses in a new case in May 2018, Werk said.

He said Jarnesky’s application to enter Drug Court was initially rejected due to a pending sexual assault investigation and a new Class A drug case before “both of these barriers were removed” and he entered the program.

Werk cited Jarnesky’s “brazen criminality” in recommending consecutive prison terms.

“The citizens of Maui County need more than five years of protection from this particular defendant,” Werk said. “This defendant has already served five years in prison once and that did not deter him from reoffending.”

Defense attorney Gerald Johnson said the allegation that Jarnesky smuggled drugs into the jail “is just based on suspicion” and shouldn’t be considered in the sentencing.

Judge Kawano agreed.

Johnson said Jarnesky absconded from the program because he was living with his father, who was suffering from cancer and later died. “And that definitely affected his judgment,” Johnson said.

He said Jarnesky had been working and staying out of trouble.

Jarnesky said he didn’t want to go back to prison.

“I just like one second chance at probation,” he said.

Judge Kawano said Jarnesky “has proven himself inappropriate for further terms of probation.”

He was given “extraordinary opportunities, repeated opportunities” in his 2015 case, Kawano said.

Jarnesky said he wasn’t guilty and it was the co-defendant in his 2018 case who used the stolen credit cards.

The judge said Jarnesky couldn’t “have it both ways” by saying he was innocent and at the same time admitting he was guilty so he could enter Drug Court.

“You’re just making the same kind of excuses you’ve been making all of these years — for seven years now with repeated chances on probation,” Kawano said. “That’s the kind of criminal thinking that has not changed for you. It’s why it makes you a dangerous person. It’s probably the reason why you absconded from the program for months with no contact.

“You’re making excuses again. You’re being dishonest with yourself and every person that has attempted to supervise you without success.”

Kawano said that if Jarnesky were placed on probation again, “that would be a slap in the face of this court, of its efforts to try and rehabilitate you. It would not provide just punishment.”

In his 2015 case, Jarnesky was sentenced to five-year prison terms for second-degree theft and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. In the 2018 case, he was sentenced to five-year prison terms for theft of a credit card, fraudulent use of a credit card and six counts of second-degree theft, a one-year jail term for third-degree theft and 30-day jail terms for two counts of fourth-degree theft.

The judge ordered that the terms run concurrently in each case while the cases run consecutively for the 10-year total.

Jarnesky was ordered to pay $7,698 in restitution in the 2015 case that involved the theft of grass from a sod farm in Puunene and $2,210 in restitution in the 2018 case.