ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Curses, foiled again!</title>

Todayʻs social media find comes from jasonpolakaw, a collection of foil board fails.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Curses, foiled again!

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

[{"text":"Remodeling your kitchen? Or looking to build a whole new home?","type":"text"}]

HPM Building Supply's newly renovated O‘ahu Design Centers in Iwilei — its first showrooms on the island — might have what you need to visualize your plans and turn ideas into reality.

The three showrooms can be found on the first floor of the Nā Lama Kukui Lifestyle & Design Center at 560 N. Nimitz Road.

"The beauty of our Design Centers is that we can offer the service for any project need," Kapua Aguiar, Design Center program manager told Aloha State Daily. "Even if it's a small bathroom remodel or a larger kitchen or you're just wanting to replace your floors. Those are all things that we can help with through our design centers."

Aguiar, who has worked for the company for nearly 13 years, says the design centers offer finished interior materials from floor to ceiling, including appliances, windows and doors.

Walking through the spaces, you can see kitchen and bathroom models, a variety of shelving and cabinetry, light and plumbing fixtures, flooring options, doors, hardware and more that are available at different levels.

 is a fifth-generation, family-run business that began as a lumber mill more than a century ago.

The employee-owned company initially added two O‘ahu showrooms when it acquired Honolulu-based interiors firm 87Zero in April 2023, an announcement at that time noted. That acquisition established a new division called 87Zero by HPM.

Those showrooms have now been fully integrated into the design center and rebranded, and HPM has added a third. Together, they're known as 

The first suite, which opened a year ago, is a design center featuring HPM Homes. Here, visitors can see displays of HPM's signature cabinets, countertops and more, along with 

HPM Homes offers more than 20 different pre-designed packaged home plans for individuals looking to construct a home or accessory dwelling unit.

A second showroom, which soft opened at the beginning of this month, is the design center that features upgrade products. Aguiar says these products are largely more customizable and made-to-order for a project space.

The third showroom highlights products from Ernestomeda, a high-end luxury Italian cabinet line.

A grand opening for the HPM O‘ahu Design Centers, which spans more than 7,000 square feet across the three spaces, is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4. Anyone can walk in but 

The event will consultations with home planners, kitchen and bath designers and vendors; cooking demonstrations by chef Shayne Castellano; pupus and drinks from Prime Roast Cafe, door prizes and a $25,000 kitchen appliance giveaway.

In addition to the three showrooms on O‘ahu, HPM has design centers on Hawai‘i Island, Kaua‘i and Maui, as well as lumberyards and retail stores across the Islands. 

Kapua aguiar HPM 042425

<title>HPM Building Supply to host grand opening for O‘ahu Design Centers</title>

Located in the Nā Lama Kukui Lifestyle & Design Center in Iwilei, a grand opening is planned for Sunday, May 4.

HPM Building Supply to host grand opening for O‘ahu Design Centers

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A U.S. Marine stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i in Kāne‘ohe Bay was arrested last weekend for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old in Kailua.

Carlos David Becerraluis, 19, was arrested Saturday, April 19, on four charges of first-degree sexual assault, three of third-degree sexual assault, five of first-degree child abuse, two of promoting pornography to a minor and one of child enticement.

According to a Honolulu Police Department report, a Kailua mother informed the police earlier this month that she had found sexually explicit messages between her daughter and an unknown male on her daughter’s phone. Those messages crossed multiple messaging platforms, but began on the France-based app Wizz.

The daughter told police the male’s name was Carlos and that he was 15 years old. However, subsequent investigation of the male’s phone number identified him as Becerraluis, who Naval Criminal Investigative Service identified as a 19-year-old Marine.

According to the report, the victim told police that Becerraluis had first contacted her through Wizz, a messaging app aimed at youth between the ages of 13 and 24. Wizz touts on its website a userbase of between 4 million and 5 million users and claims that “25% of U.S. teens have downloaded Wizz.” 

According to Wizz’s website, users are organized into specific age groups — 14-year-old users can only interact with users of similar ages, for example — and new users must provide a clear photo of their faces so an AI can estimate their age for official verification.

The victim told police that she had claimed to be 14 on Wizz, but used a photograph of herself at 11 years old. Becerraluis, meanwhile, was identified on the app as being 15.

Becerraluis allegedly told the victim to download Snapchat to continue their conversation — pictures and videos sent via Snapchat automatically delete after being viewed. Following this, their conversations migrated to text messages, which were eventually obtained by Honolulu police officers.

In those messages, Becerraluis allegedly repeatedly asked the victim to meet in person, to which she eventually agreed. During their meeting in Kailua, she said, Becerraluis sexually assaulted her in his car multiple times.

Following that incident, police say, Becerraluis sent sexually explicit photographs to the victim, and encouraged her to do the same. After several exchanges, the victim stopped responding to his messages, which were eventually discovered by the victim’s mother.

First-degree sexual assault and first-degree child abuse are both Class A felonies, carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. As the charges include child sex crimes, they also carry a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and eight months.

Becerraluis appeared in court Monday for an arraignment with bail set at $1 million. He will appear next in court for a preliminary hearing on April 23.

Aloha State Daily has reached out to the Marine Corps and Wizz for comment.

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