Kona man charged after punching female gas station clerk, stealing cash

John Bull Macomber, 51 of Kona, was arrested and charged with robbery, assault and drug offenses stemming from a Jan. 24 incident at a Kona gas station in the early morning.

According to the Hawaiʻi Island police, at 1:25 a.m., Kona patrol officers responded to the business in the 74-0100 block of Honokōhau Street after a female employee reported that an unknown male entered the establishment and punched her several times in her head while demanding money from the cash registers.

The male suspect, later identified Macomber, took an undisclosed amount of currency from the cash registers before leaving in a Ford SUV.  

The victim was taken to Kona Community Hospital for treatment of her injuries and later released.

At 3:56 a.m. the same morning, Macomber was arrested on Kuakini Highway operating the Ford SUV.

Detectives with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section continued the investigation and recovered from the vehicle an undisclosed amount of currency, clothing used in the robbery and .5 gram of a crystalline substance that tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine.

Macomber was charged with:

• second-degree robbery
• third-degree assault
• driving without a valid driver’s license
• second-degree terroristic threatening
• third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug

Bail for Macomber was set at $38,000. He remained in custody at the Kealakehe Police Station pending his initial court on Jan. 25.