Ten Years Jail for Tonino Benson?

A wanted man since 2014, the Hawaiian WQS surfer Tonino Benson just got got.

The Big Island’s Tonino Benson is behind bars, and likely to stay there for a while, after a series of absolutely terrible decisions caught up with him this past week.

Benson, who’s been a wanted man since 2014, was pulled over by BI police after exceeding the speed limit on Alii Drive. They ran his name, got a hit, and he decided to make a run for it. Which might have worked, the Big Island is BIG, plenty of places to hide. Unfortunately for him, he got got.

The arresting officer claims he was nearly hit by Benson’s vehicle, which we can all safely assume to be a load of shit, since all cops are cowards. But that’s little help for Benson, because pigs love to tack on assault charges if someone so much as tugs their tail.

HOPE is a last chance program for those deemed likely to violate their probation, marked by intense supervision and immediate short term sentences for violations. But absconsion is grounds for revocation, and then the hammer comes down. In the words of BeachGrit‘s legal consultant, my wife, “You fuck up big on HOPE, you’re fucked.”

Benson’s initial 2014 arrest stemmed from a burglary in Kailua-Kona and landed him in Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement, more commonly known as HOPE.

HOPE is a last chance program for those deemed likely to violate their probation, marked by intense supervision and immediate short term sentences for violations. But absconsion is grounds for revocation, and then the hammer comes down. In the words of BeachGrit‘s legal consultant, my wife, “You fuck up big on HOPE, you’re fucked.”

His attorney has requested a mental health evaluation, not unreasonable considering the fact that Benson seems hell bent on destroying his life. But it’s unlikely to find success, as his “assault” on the officer in the course of his escape is the least of his troubles.

His initial offenses, for which he entered a deferred acceptance of no contest, meaning the case would have been dismissed had he finished his four-year probation, included charges of first-degree burglary, a Class B felony that carries a ten-year indeterminate sentence. Which means he goes away for ten years and hopes the parole board lets him out early. Which it probably will, but not any time soon.

In other Outer Island news, the Big Island Mayor, Billy Kenoi, has been indicted for felony theft, misdemeanor theft, tampering with a government record, and false swearing, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Kenoi was caught red handed last year misusing his government issue credit cards, employing government funds to make purchases such as a stand-up paddle board. Most amusing, however, is the $892 tab he picked up at Club Evergreen,a Korean hostess establishment, colloquially referred to as “buy me drinkee” bars.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, as I was prior to relocating to Hawaii, a buy me drinkee bar is basically a strip club, but the women don’t get naked.

Instead you pay grossly inflated rates for their company while you drink. Maybe they do sex work on the side, I don’t know. I’m not exactly keyed into the culture.

Kenoi maintains that, because he paid the money back, he doesn’t feel he’s done anything wrong.