HONOLULU (KHON2) — Gabriel Arjona-Molina made his initial court appearance on Monday after he was arrested and charged for attempting to take an air ambulance from the Hilo International Airport.
The 24-year-old is being held at Hawaii Community Correctional Facility in lieu of $37,000 bail.
On Friday, Aug. 27, a witness reported that a vehicle crashed through the fence at the airport. The driver, later identified as Arjona-Molina, then parked next to a fixed-winged single engine aircraft. He exited the vehicle and attempted to manually spin the aircraft’s propeller.
Police said Arjona-Molina then approached a Beechcraft King Air C90A aircraft parked on the ramp that he was able to board through the pull-down hatch. He entered the cockpit where he started both engines before exiting the plane; the aircraft did not move. Police arrested him at the scene shortly after.
Arjona-Molina was subsequently charged with attempted theft in the first degree, criminal property damage in the first degree, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, and criminal trespassing in the first degree.
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According to police, Arjona-Molina is a Venezuelan national who has been on the Big Island for approximately two months.
