WAILUKU – A black BB gun was found at the Kula residence of a man charged with robbing the pharmacy at the Longs Drugs store in Pukalani last week, a police detective testified Tuesday.
At a preliminary hearing in Wailuku District Court for John Naauao Jr., 28, Detective Dennis Lee said police found the handgun under a bed in a locked bedroom.
Lee said police obtained a warrant to search the residence after Naauao was identified as a suspect in the robbery, which occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 2.
Pharmacist Deanna Salse, who was working with a pharmacy technician that night, said she was filling prescriptions when she heard the alarm for the emergency exit outside the prescription area.
She testified she saw someone go through a window into the pharmacy area and jump down on the floor. The person had a gun, Salse said, and told the employees to get down on the floor.
“After we got on the floor, he asked where the oxys were,” referring to the prescription painkiller oxycodone, Salse said.
She said the robber pointed the gun at her while demanding the oxycodone.
The drugs were in a safe that was open because she was doing inventory, Salse said.
“I asked him if he wanted me to get up and go over and show him,” she said. “I went over and pulled out a drawer. He told me to get down on the ground.”
Salse said she heard the robber walk away and it seemed quiet when she looked up. “He was jumping out the window and out the emergency door,” Salse said.
She said the robber took 1,147 30-milligram oxycodone pills and 400 generic Percocet pills, which would have been sold by the pharmacy for a total of about $2,300.
Shown a photo of the gun recovered from Naauao’s residence, Salse said she couldn’t say whether it was the same gun she saw that night.
Salse also couldn’t identify the robber, who was described as wearing a dark, hooded, long-sleeved sweater with a logo on the left chest, a brown baseball cap, camouflage shorts, sunglasses and a camouflage bandanna around his face. He also wore a pair of dark-colored athletic-type shoes.
Longs cashier Alma Felicilda, who was working near the store entrance that night, identified Naauao as the person she saw texting on his cellphone when he entered the store at about 8 p.m. His face wasn’t covered, Felicilda said, and she had seen him in the store more than once before.
She said he was the same person she saw in surveillance video of the robbery.
Felicilda picked Naauao out of a police photo lineup, Lee said.
He said he put together the lineup after someone showed up at the Wailuku Police Station the morning of Feb. 3 and provided the name of the person shown in surveillance photos that police had distributed to the media.
Lee said the other pharmacy employee couldn’t testify Tuesday because she was on stress leave and had gone to Oahu. She also described hearing the alarm and seeing a man jump through the prescription counter window and approach with a handgun, ordering the employees to the ground, Lee said.
Under cross-examination by Deputy Public Defender Danielle Sears, Lee said police weren’t sure if it was Naauao’s bedroom that the gun was found in.
Lee said Naauao was reported to be living in an enclosed carport area of the residence belonging to his mother. Nothing belonging to Naauao was found in the outside area, Lee said, and none of his clothing was found in the search.
Judge Douglas Sameshima ruled there was probable cause to support charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree theft against Naauao.
Deputy Prosecutor Lewis Littlepage asked that Naauao’s bail be increased, saying motions to revoke his probation had been filed in two other felony cases. “He is looking at substantial jail time if convicted,” Littlepage said.
In increasing Naauao’s bail to $100,000, Sameshima said Naauao’s previous record includes convictions for contempt of court and failure to appear. Naauao is being held at the Maui Community Correctional Center.
If released, Naauao was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to stay away from the Longs Drugs store.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 19 in 2nd Circuit Court.
According to court records, Naauao was sentenced in January 2014 to a three-month jail term and five years’ probation for unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. His driver’s license was suspended for one year for driving under the influence of drugs.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
