Maui police arrested a suspect during an early morning robbery at a Hi-Tech Surf Sports store in Kihei over the weekend.
Store owners say the store, located at 2021 South Kihe Road, was broken into on Sunday, July 24, 2022 at 4:24 a.m. Police responded to an alarm and reported a vehicle parked at the back door. the business.
“The suspect broke the glass on the right door to gain entry,” owner Kim Ball said in an email to Maui Now.
According to Ball, the left door still had wood on it from when it was broken on June 22. Both doors were recently replaced due to the infamous “drive through” incident on August 11, 2021.
Ball said the suspect stole all the skateboards from the rack along with skateboard accessories and loaded them into the trunk of a stolen Mustang.
According to the retailer, the suspect then went back and broke the glass on a Maui Jim Sungles case and a Nixon watch case, and placed the sunglasses and watches in the trash. “He cleared things up,” Ball reported.
Upon arrival, officers stopped a 2019 silver Ford Mustang convertible and left the engine in the parking lot. The glass door was broken and when they checked, they found 24-year-old Thomas Jacob Smith of Kihei with several items inside the business.
Police said Smith resisted officers’ attempts to take him into custody by running throughout the operation until he was subdued by officers and taken into custody.
While trying to put Smith in a police car, police said Smith broke free and began running westbound on Auhana Road.
Paramedics treated Smith at the scene, and Kihei Patrol officers took him to Maui Memorial Medical Center’s emergency room for further treatment. He was later taken to the Wailuku Police Station.
Throughout the investigation, on July 24, 2022, a used 2019 Mustang was reported stolen at 12:15 a.m. that morning from a condominium at 2387 South Kihei Road.
A police investigation revealed that between 9:15 a.m. and 11:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, 2022, an unknown person(s) entered an unoccupied condominium and stole several personal items, the keys to the Mustang, and the contents of the Mustang.
Smith was arrested and charged with: one (1) count of burglary in the second degree, one (1) count of criminal property damage in the second degree, one (1) count of escape in the second degree and one (1) count of resisting arrest for the July 24, 2022 incident. Smith remains in police custody; Bail was set at $17,000.
Ball said the incident is noteworthy because after 40 years in business, it is the first time a suspect has been caught in a shoplifting incident.
The investigation is ongoing.
