Hilo man charged with attempted distribution, possession of over 2 pounds of methamphetamine

A Hilo man, 58-year-old Robert Alan Akito Kinoshita, has been arrested and charged with attempted distribution and possession of over two pounds of methamphetamine.

Police reports allege that Kinoshita was observed to be seated within the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle parked within the parking lot at the Wailoa State Park in Hilo. Following the execution of a narcotics search warrant, vice officers later recovered over two pounds of methamphetamine and $6,607 from within the motor vehicle.

Kinoshita is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Hilo District Court on Friday
afternoon. He remains in custody in lieu of $300,000 bail.

Kinoshita was charged with two counts of Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the First Degree (possess over an ounce of methamphetamine) and two counts of Attempted Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the First Degree (attempt to distribute one-eighth ounce or more of methamphetamine).

Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the First Degree and Attempted Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the First Degree are both class A felony offenses punishable by a maximum penalty of a twenty-year prison term. If convicted as charged, Kinoshita faces sentencing to a mandatory prison term and will not be eligible for probation. Additionally, Prosecutors have provided a notice that Kinoshita is subject to an extended term of imprisonment.

This is not Konshita’s first brush with the law. In May 2020, South Hilo patrol officers responded to Maile Street on a report of the possible location of a missing minor female.

Responding officers contacted a male, later identified as Kinoshita, standing next to a parked vehicle, and upon approaching Kinoshita, he appeared to discard items he retrieved from inside the vehicle.

Upon checking, officers observed an unresponsive female in the passenger seat, who was identified as the missing minor. Due to circumstances surrounding the incident, officers initiated sexual assault and illegal drug cases. Kinoshita was arrested and transported to the Hilo Police Cellblock.

Detectives from the Area I Juvenile Aid Section and the Area I Vice Section executed search warrants on the vehicle and the items thrown from the vehicle and methamphetamine were located.

After conferral with the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, detectives from the Area I Juvenile Aid Section charged Kinoshita with Sexual Assault in the First Degree and three counts of Promotion of a Dangerous Drug in the Third Degree.