Homeless Men Charged in Hotel Room Burglary

Two homeless men have been charged with breaking into a Kona hotel room and stealing a variety of items.

A 33-year-old man visiting from California called police at 2 a.m. Saturday to report that he had returned to his room in a resort off Ali`i Drive near Walua Road and discovered his rental car key and other items were missing.

The car was also gone from the parking lot.

Police said an investigation led to the identity of the two suspects, who have no permanent address but are known to frequent the Kailua-Kona area.

Early Saturday night, police arrested the first suspect, 20-year-old Sloan Kalau Deleon, on a no-bail warrant for violating probation and for contempt of court.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, police arrested 27-year-old Leo Isamu Corpuz, who was alleged in possession of the stolen rental car and numerous pieces of mail belonging to other persons.

The car’s license plate had been replaced with a stolen license plate, police said in a press release.

Corpuz was charged Monday with burglary, car theft, six counts of theft, two counts of theft or forgery of a credit card, eight counts of unauthorized possession of personal information, fraudulent use of a vehicle license plate and driving without a license.

Corpuz’s bail was set at $143,000.

Deleon was charged with burglary, second-degree theft, promoting a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia. His bail was set at $11,000.

Both were scheduled to make initial court appearances today.

The press release said police are urging the public to take the following steps to protect against theft of mail:

• Use mailboxes with locks
• Be familiar with mail pickup and delivery times
• Retrieve mail as soon as possible after it is delivered
• Place outgoing mail in the box as close as possible to pickup time
• Consider renting a post office box

Police stressed that stolen mail can be used to steal a person’s identity to commit financial crimes that can be devastating for the victims.