Hawaiʻi Police Department
Criminal Investigations Section, Area I
Lieutenant Gregory Esteban
Phone: 961-2252
Report No. C15008848
Isaac Rosa
Media Release
A Puna man stopped for driving a suspicious vehicle has been charged with 11 offenses, including five felonies.
At 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Puna Patrol officers stopped 21-year-old Isaac Rosa of Mountain View, who was driving a pickup truck without a rear license plate on Ihope Road in Mountain View. Officers determined that the truck also had no vehicle identification number. Rosa was arrested on suspicion of altering a motor vehicle serial number and taken to the Hilo police cellblock while officers from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section continued the investigation.
Investigation revealed that the truck had been stolen in a warehouse burglary on Stainback Highway sometime between February 5 and February 6.
Investigation further determined that Rosa had been an accomplice in a burglary at another warehouse on Wiliama Street in Keaʻau on March 24. During that burglary, a sedan was stolen. Later that day, the stolen car was used in the theft of a pickup truck on Kūkūau Street in Hilo.
Investigators also determined that Rosa was responsible for an unrelated theft of a John Deere all-terrain vehicle on March 18 in Honomū.
Police recovered all three stolen vehicles and the ATV.
At 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Rosa was charged with three counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and one count each of second-degree burglary, accomplice to first-degree theft, second-degree criminal property damage, accomplice to fourth-degree criminal property damage, driving without a license, driving without insurance and altering a motor vehicle serial number. The accomplice to first-degree theft, a B felony, was enhanced from accomplice to second-degree theft because the theft occurred when Puna was under a disaster declaration.
Rosa remained in the cellblock in lieu of $16,775 bail until his initial court appearance on Friday (April 10).
Police ask anyone with information about the March 24 warehouse burglary on Wiliama Street in Keaʻau or the identity of the second suspect to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call the islandwide Crime Stoppers number at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.
