HAWAII ISLAND, Hawaii (KHON2) — The search continues for three inmates who escaped from a Big Island jail last Friday.
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Police said they were months away from being released.
Kawai Pomroy, Clyde Loa and Joseph Fernandez are still on the run after escaping from the Hawaii Community Correctional Center Hale Nani Facility on Friday around 4:30 p.m.
Lt. Zachary Fernando of the Hawaii Police Department said they are working with state sheriffs to locate the inmates.
“We believe that one of the inmates had made his way into the employee locker room area of the facility and removed one of the employeeʻs car keys from a secured locker there and the three inmates were able to flee the facility using that stolen employeeʻs vehicle,” Lt. Fernando told KHON2. “We were able to obtain some video surveillance to verify that three suspects left in the car.”
According to officials, the vehicle is a metallic dark gray 2014 Nissan Altima with the Hawaii license ZCK 261.
“This is the first I’ve heard where they’ve actually stolen a vehicle belonging to an employee of the facility,” Fernando said.
“Was the vehicle ever found?” asked KHON.
“No, the vehicle is still at large as well,” he explained.
Fernando said the inmates are not considered an imminent threat to the community at this time. They all had less than a year left until their release.
They were being held at Hale Nani, which is HCCC’s minimum security reintegration facility.
According to Fernando, escapes are rare, but they do happen.
“The last escape from that facility was back in November of 2023. The escapee left during the morning hours and was apprehended in the Pahoa district in the early evening of the same day,” he explained.
He said its just a matter of time until they are found.
And when they’re caught, they’ll likely get years added to their sentences for escaping according to defense attorney Victor Bakke.
“It could be either be a ‘B’ felony or a ‘C’ felony,” Bakke said. “A ‘B’ felony is more serious, but that’s usually reserved for cases where some type of force was used. And the ‘C’ felony would be where somebody just fails to return. So in this case, depending on the allegations, the fact that they maybe took somebody’s car, committed another crime during the course of their escape, that could possibly result in the more serious ‘B’ felony.”
So why would anyone so close to being released jeopardize that?
“Those people are usually at the end of their rope, so to speak,” Bakke said. “They don’t have any respect for the system. They’ve usually been through the system multiple times. They have mental health issues, they have drug addiction issues. So they’re not really the kind of clients or defendants that will be amenable to rehabilitation easily.”
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If you have any information or have seen the suspects, please call 911, the Sheriff’s Division at (808) 586-1352 or the Crime Stoppers hotline (808) 961-8300.
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