Two Kailua-Kona men and a couple from Washington state were arrested and charged in three separate incidents for allegedly violating the state’s 14-day emergency travel quarantine, police said Monday.
Charles Edward Gross, a 72-year-old Kailua-Kona man, was arrested late Friday afternoon.
According to police, Gross, who has a private residence on a resort property, was arrested after staffers who were aware that he had returned Aug. 9 from an East Coast trip saw him leave his home and return.
He was released from custody after posting $500 bail.
On Saturday, John Spurlock, a 69-year-old Kailua-Kona man, allegedly refused to sign paperwork acknowledging he was subject to quarantine after arriving on a late afternoon flight at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole, police said.
Spurlock was released on his own recognizance after being charged.
Then on Sunday evening, an Everett, Wash., couple — 36-year-old Nicholas Whiting and 35-year-old Jennifer Bonnell — were apprehended at a Kailua-Kona business after being recognized by a worker at the hotel they had checked into the previous day, police said.
Hawaii County Civil Defense verified the couple had flown from Seattle to Honolulu, then from Honolulu to Kona on Saturday.
Whiting and Bonnell were released on their own recognizance after being charged. According to a police log, they were ordered to appear Sept. 17 in Kona District Court.
Police say the couple checked out of the hotel the same day they were arrested after refusing to quarantine. It’s unclear whether they returned to the mainland.
Email John Burnett at [email protected].
