Volcano Village Man Arrested for Auto Thefts

Kahe‘e Ioane Manuwai. HPD photo.

Hawaiʻi Island police have located a 26-year-old Hilo man who was wanted for questioning in an auto theft investigation.

Thanks to tips from the public, Kahe‘e Ioane Manuwai was arrested Saturday, Jan. 21, in Volcano Village.

On Monday, Jan. 23, police recovered a 2017 Subaru that had been stolen on Jan. 16 from a car dealership in Kona and was displaying a license plate from another vehicle.

Officers from the Special Enforcement Unit in Hilo also linked Manuwai to another 2017 Subaru that had been stolen from a car dealership in Hilo on Sept. 23.

At 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23, Manuwai was charged with two counts of first-degree theft, two counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, fraudulent use of a license plate, resisting arrest and reckless driving (for fleeing from an officer who attempted to stop him in one of the stolen cars on Jan. 18).

Manuwai was also arrested on suspicion of two other counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle in connection with the thefts of two Honda CRVs from a parking lot on the 600 block of West Lanikaula Street on Jan. 1 and 11. Those cases are still under investigation and will be forwarded to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney upon completion.

Manuwai was held at the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $65,000 bail until his initial court appearance Tuesday, Jan. 24.