POLICE BEAT
Charges filed in knifepoint robbery of bank
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 42-year-old Salt Lake man was charged yesterday with the knifepoint robbery Tuesday of the Makiki branch of First Hawaiian Bank.
Kenneth K.J. Yi was charged in a federal complaint with bank robbery. He was arrested Tuesday after police said he threatened bank employees with a knife and plunged it into a desktop.
Police said a man, identified in court documents as Yi, entered the bank at 1111 S. Beretania St. about 12:40 p.m. Tuesday and went to a customer-service representative with some papers. He said, "I want my money now," pulled out a knife and stabbed the desk, according to a police affidavit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.
The employee left her desk to alert a supervisor, the affidavit said. The man pulled the knife out of the desk, approached two other bank employees, returned to the desk and stabbed it again, the document said.
Police officers responding to an alarm confronted Yi while he was still in the bank.
Police said he surrendered without incident and was arrested on suspicion of robbery, criminal property damage and on a traffic warrant.
Police also seized the knife, which was found stuck in the desktop.
Yi admitted to police that he had tried to rob the bank with a knife, the affidavit said.
Police later turned him over to federal authorities, who charged him yesterday afternoon.
Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
