A 43-year-old Kihei man admitted in federal court this week that he robbed a Maui bank branch last year using a fake handgun that tellers believed was real, walking away with nearly $5,000 in cash before police tracked him down. Justin Nelson appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter in Honolulu on Thursday and pleaded guilty to a federal bank robbery charge.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii, Nelson entered a First Hawaiian Bank branch in Kihei on August 27, 2025, armed with a black airsoft pistol that tellers believed was a real firearm, and obtained $4,885 in cash. The office, which posted the news from its official account, is led by federal prosecutors based in Honolulu.
Officers from the Maui Police Department located and arrested Nelson shortly after the robbery, recovering the airsoft pistol and a portion of the stolen bank funds at the time of his apprehension, per the same office's announcement. The quick turnaround from local police work to a federal courtroom guilty plea illustrates how closely Maui's police department and federal investigators coordinated on the case.
FBI Investigation Led to Federal Charge
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Paris Yates for the District of Hawaii, the announcement noted. Federal jurisdiction over bank robberies dates back to 1934, when Congress authorized federal prosecution and FBI oversight for crimes against federally insured financial institutions, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That history explains why a holdup at a single Kihei bank branch became a matter for federal court rather than state prosecutors.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), taking or attempting to take property from a federally insured bank by force, violence, or intimidation carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Senior U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor is scheduled to sentence Nelson on December 18, where he faces up to 20 years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. It remains unclear how much restitution Nelson will be ordered to pay at sentencing, and whether any state charges were originally filed or dismissed as part of his federal plea agreement.
New US Attorney Announces the Plea
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, who was Senate-confirmed and officially sworn in as Hawaii's chief federal law enforcement officer on August 18 after serving 30 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the state. His office's announcement of the Nelson case comes just weeks into his tenure leading federal prosecutions across Hawaii.
Second Kihei Bank Robbery Case in Two Years
Nelson's case is not the only armed bank robbery to hit Kihei in recent years. Back in July 2025, Maui Police investigated a separate armed robbery at a Bank of Hawaii branch in Kihei, offering a $25,000 reward for information about a daylight suspect, as Hoodline reported at the time. The dossier does not indicate whether that earlier case has been resolved or whether it is connected to Nelson's.
Nelson's guilty plea also arrives against a backdrop of falling crime nationally. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics released in August showed nationwide robbery offenses fell an estimated 18.5% between 2024 and 2025, alongside an overall 9.3% drop in violent crime. Even so, the Kihei case underscores that armed robberies involving even fake weapons continue to trigger the full weight of federal prosecution in Hawaii.
