Honolulu Police Hunt Two Oahu Men Who Skipped Out on Court Deals

Honolulu Police are asking for the public's help tracking down two Oahu men wanted on bench warrants after allegedly violating the terms of their court-ordered deferrals. Bryson Kahaleua and Cyrus Del Rosario are believed to be moving between the Kailua, Kapolei, Waikiki, and Ewa Beach areas, and investigators are urging anyone who recognizes them to come forward.

According to KITV, Honolulu Police are actively looking for both men, each of whom is wanted on a separate bench warrant tied to an alleged deferral violation. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.

What a Violated Deferral Actually Means

A deferred plea is not a conviction — it is a second chance. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 853-1, a court can defer accepting a guilty or no-contest plea for a felony, misdemeanor, or petty misdemeanor, giving a defendant who follows the court's terms a path to a full discharge and dismissal without a formal conviction on record. That arrangement, however, comes with strings attached.

If a defendant violates any condition of that deferment period, Hawaii Revised Statutes § 853-3 allows a judge to revoke the deferral entirely, enter an adjudication of guilt, and move straight to sentencing under the law, according to FindLaw's compiled Hawaii statutes. In other words, whatever violation put Kahaleua and Del Rosario on the state's warrant list didn't just cost them a court date — it potentially erased the second chance the deferral was meant to offer, converting a pending case into a guilty finding the moment a judge signs off.

The Record-Clearing Payoff They Risk Losing

The stakes behind a completed deferral go beyond avoiding a guilty verdict. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 853-1(e), defendants who successfully finish their deferment period and get their charges dismissed can apply to have their arrest records expunged, but not until at least one year after discharge. That expungement wipes non-conviction arrest records from public background checks — a benefit that disappears the moment a bench warrant for a violation gets issued instead.

Until charges are formally resolved, the underlying case records tied to a deferral remain part of the public record. A 1999 opinion from the Hawaii Office of Information Practices found that police reports from closed criminal investigations involving deferred pleas are subject to public inspection under the state's Uniform Information Practices Act once proceedings conclude, unless those records are later expunged.

How Honolulu Police Track and Serve Warrants

Bench warrants issued by Oahu courts are managed through the Honolulu Police Department's Warrants Unit and tracked statewide through the Hawaii State Judiciary's eBench Warrant system, which updates multiple times daily for law enforcement agencies across the islands. Officers executing a bench warrant are required to hand a copy of it to the person being arrested and file a completed Return of Service document, along with the original warrant, back to the court that issued it.

HPD policy also limits when officers can serve routine bench warrants, restricting service on premises closed to the public between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. unless a court order or legal exception applies. Once a suspect is taken into custody, HPD intake procedures call for at least two officers or authorized staff to conduct a full-frisk search before booking, a safeguard meant to keep weapons and contraband out of holding areas.

Anonymous Tips and a Judicial Alternative

CrimeStoppers Honolulu offers anonymous cash rewards of up to $1,000 for tips that lead to an arrest or help identify a criminal suspect, with tips accepted by phone, through the P3 Tips app, or online. That reward structure sits alongside a separate, less confrontational option that Oahu residents facing their own outstanding warrants have used to resolve cases without police involvement.

In September 2025, the Hawaii State Judiciary reported that 68 Oahu residents with outstanding District Court bench warrants received recall orders and new court dates at a community legal assistance clinic in Kapālama, allowing them to resolve pending cases voluntarily rather than through arrest. That clinic brought together public defenders, judiciary staff, and volunteer attorneys, offering a glimpse of how differently a bench-warrant case can end when someone comes forward on their own terms instead of waiting to be found.