By C1 Staff
KONA, Hawaii — An inmate has pleaded guilty for his role in a violent jailbreak almost two years ago at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center that left a 63-year-old corrections officer injured.
West Hawaii Today reports that Ryan James Jeffries-Hamar pleaded guilty to first-degree escape, second-degree robbery, second-degree assault against a law enforcement officer, unlawful imprisonment, auto theft and criminal property damage, as well as second-degree escape for a previous unrelated escape from the Hale Nani Correctional Facility.
He and another inmate, Jarvis Naoki Higa, are accused of attacking the CO on Dec. 5, 2012, stealing his keys to the facility and then stealing the car of the facility’s law librarian, a 49-year-old woman.
Jeffries-Hamar told the librarian, “I won’t hurt you, just give me the keys.” The librarian said she gave him the keys as she feared for her safety. She was unhurt during the incident but was described as “traumatized” by Department of Public Safety Director Ted Sakai.
The corrections officer, Roberto Paulino, was treated at a nearby hospital for face and neck injuries.
Higa was awaiting trial for attempted murder for a July 2012 incident in which he allegedly shot and missed another man in a Keaukaha apartment complex parking lot.
Jeffries-Hamar was incarcerated for the escape from Hale Nani in Aug. 2012.
A manhunt ensued after the escape, which led to the recapture of Higa two days later. Jeffries-Hamar was missing for eight days before being nabbed.
Higa is scheduled for trial in March of 2015 for the attempted murder charge and again in April on charges related to the escape.
Both are currently incarcerated without bail at the Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu.