Drugs, Loaded Firearm Found During Puna Traffic Stop

Juanita Grammer

A vehicle pursuit in Puna led to the arrest of a Mountain View woman who was reportedly found in possession of a loaded firearm and drugs, authorities confirmed Friday.

The incident stems from a traffic stop on Nov. 11 when Hawai‘i Police Department’s Puna Patrol officers tried to stop a vehicle traveling on Plumeria Street in the Fern Acres subdivision with dark illegally-tinted windows and regulatory violations.

“Officers attempted to perform a traffic stop on the vehicle, but the vehicle failed to stop,” police stated in a press release Friday. “While fleeing from officers the vehicle lost control and slid off the roadway, and came to rest in dense vegetation.”

The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was identified to be 31-year-old Juanita Grammer, a convicted felon who was currently on probation.

Detectives served a search warrant on the vehicle and recovered a loaded pistol, ammunition, a glass smoking pipe with residue, syringes containing a brown liquid which tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine, two silicone containers containing a brown residue which tested presumptive positive for heroin, and zip packets containing residue which tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine.

Grammer was taken into custody and charged with two counts of ownership/possession prohibited, loaded firearm on highway, place to keep pistol, place to keep ammunition, alteration of identification marks prohibited, four counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, driving without a license, no motor vehicle insurance and resisting order to stop.

Grammer appeared in South Hilo Court Friday where a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 17.