Hawaii - Police Arrest Burglarizing 'Lava-Looter'

Looting during natural disasters is something one would expect during flash floods or a hurricane, but Hawaii is now experiencing a new kind of criminal which we’ll dub the ‘lava-looter’. As if it is not enough that Hawaii residents have to fear for a wall of magma turning their house into ash, the police of the big island of Hawaii today admitted that they had so far arrested at least one person caught looting evacuated homes during the lava scare.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So far only one guy has been arrested( <a href="https://t.co/JUT4xMFmvx">https://t.co/JUT4xMFmvx</a> )for looting, and he has a European last name.Hawaii is dealing very well with this.Hawaii has other serious problems, but they… <a href="https://t.co/03qURpvEzZ">https://t.co/03qURpvEzZ</a></p>&mdash; Follow 💯 (@graceman33) <a href="https://twitter.com/graceman33/status/994424725295087617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The burglar was caught in the act when a Leilani Estates resident was allowed to return to his home in order to retrieve some personal belongings.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/25010-Hawaii-Mandatory-Evacuations-Ordered-As-Volcano-Erupts

When he saw another unknown man leave his house, he called upon a friend of his and the two of them held the burglar down till the police arrived.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/25273-From-The-Underbelly-Hawaii-s-Volcano-In-Pictures

Police admitted that the suspect is already linked to another burglary in Leilani Es-tates this week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Man arrest-ed for looting lava-evacuated homes in Hawaii <a href="https://t.co/LdllKPi3ob">https://t.co/LdllKPi3ob</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nypost</a></p>&mdash; Liz V (@ShoreEJV) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShoreEJV/status/994561139592884224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The whole area had to evacuate their homes when lava began bubbling up from cracks in the ground since last week. At daily intervals, local authorities are allowing residents to return to their homes for an hour or so to check on their properties and their belongings. Earlier this week, several Hawaiians had refused to leave their homes out of fear for looters.

Source:

https://nypost.com/2018/05/10/man-arrested-for-looting-lava-evacuated-homes-in-hawaii/