Police swarmed suspects on UH-Hilo campus

HILO – Last week a police chase around the University of Hawaii Hilo campus snarled traffic and put a nearby pre-school on lockdown. Now, details are emerging on the suspects who were arrested that day and crimes they allegedly committed in Puna.

Police say a Hilo couple, Gregory and Aubry Harper, were seen breaking into a vehicle at the Hilo Bayfront shortly after 7 am Thursday, March 5th. The two left the scene after being confronted, eventually being caught at UH-Hilo.

Shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday, a concerned citizen saw a man breaking into a vehicle at the Hilo Bayfront area. The man, after being confronted by the citizen, left in a vehicle being driven by a woman. This vehicle was later located by South Hilo patrol officers in the area of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.Hawaii County Police on March 10, 2015

Police believe the two were involved in two separate burglaries which occurred earlier in the week in Puna.

On Sunday (March 1), the caretaker of a Kalapana Seaview Estates home reported confronting a man and a woman leaving a home on Moaniala Street. The pair left in a vehicle with items that had been removed from the home. On Monday (March 2), a Leilani Estates woman reported finding that her home on Malama Street had been broken into and that a television and other items had been removed from within. Officers were able to locate and recover some of the items removed in these burglaries and link them to the couple. Hawaii County Police on March 10, 2015

The couple has been charged with various theft and traffic offenses.

On Friday (March 5), after conferring with the Prosecutor’s Office, Aubrey A. Harper was charged with two counts of first-degree burglary, second degree theft, fourth-degree theft, reckless endangering in the second-degree, and a variety of traffic offenses. Her total bail was set at $14,275. Gregory P. Harper was charged with two counts of first-degree burglary, second degree theft, unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, theft in the fourth-degree and resisting arrest. His total bail was set at $14,750. The couple appeared in court on Monday (March 9).Hawaii County Police on March 10, 2015

Police respond in the area of UH-Hilo on March 5, 2015. Photo from video by David Corrigan.