Woman says community helped with finding car stolen from airport

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A car that was reported stolen from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport has been found in the Pearl City area.

Hotavia Porter told KHON2.com that she parked her red Chevrolet in the parking garage before hopping on a flight to American Samoa.

When her sister went to pick it up it was gone.

Porter believes someone broke open the lock box with the key inside and took off with the vehicle.

She said she’ll be picking it up from the police when she returns home next week and thanked the community for keeping an eye out.

“You know, on social media and on KHON2 News because once — once the news got out, there were so many messages of support,” said Porter. “”Hoping you’re okay,’ kind of thing, right?”

“Sometimes it’s the hustle and bustle of, you know, life but we are reminded that it does, we are living in a community and there is a lot of unity and there is a lot of good still,” added Porter.

According to the Hawaii Department of Public Safety (PSD), there were six vehicle theft cases at the airport so far this year.

Porter said the incident happened in a matter of just a few hours after dropping the car off at around 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

By around 6 p.m., PSD reported a stolen vehicle.

Transportation officials warn against using external lock boxes to store your key.

“And those lock boxes aren’t as durable as you may think,” said DOT spokesman Jai Cunningham on Thursday. “Simple hammer can take them apart pretty quickly. If there is a key in there and [you take] a hammer to it, then you’ve got the key. You’ve got access to that car.”