Hawaiʻi Police Department
Criminal Investigations Section, Area I
Lieutenant Gregory Esteban
Phone: 961-2252
Airiel Jost
Media Release (update No. 2)
Hawaiʻi Island police have filed additional charges against a 22-year-old Pāhoa man who is being featured this month on “Hawaiʻi Island’s Most Wanted.”
On Thursday, police arrested Airiel Rhodes Jost on bench warrants for violating terms and conditions of his probation. He was also a suspect in other crimes.
On November 2, a 49-year-old man returned to his home on Uliana Drive in Pāhoa and found an unknown man in his house. The stranger exited the house and threatened the victim with a knife before leaving.
On November 8, a Mercedez Benz automobile was removed from the garage of a house on Kapoho Beach Road.
On November 14, a Mazda Miata sports car was stolen from a home on Luana Street in the Leilani Estates subdivision and later crashed.
Police investigation linked all three incidents to Jost. Friday afternoon, detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section charged him with first-degree burglary, first-degree terroristic threatening, two counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and driving without a license. His bail was set at $57,000.
Jost is being featured this month on the cable access program “Hawaiʻi Island’s Most Wanted,” which was pre-recorded before his arrest.
The program airs on Na Leo O Hawaiʻi Community Television Channel 54 on Sundays at 5 p.m. and Fridays at 5:30 p.m. It also airs intermittently on Channel 53.