Hawaii
Utah man arrested after allegedly renting out a Hawaii property he didn't own
WASHINGTON, Utah — A Utah man is now facing charges after he allegedly rented out a property in Hawaii to a friend. But according to police, he didn’t own the property and had no right to rent it out. Matthew Liutai Tanuvasa, 32, was arrested on April 1st and faces theft charges.
Court documents state that the Washington City Police Department was made aware of the alleged theft on March 21. The victim told police he had paid a friend to use a rental property in Hauula, Hawaii. The victim paid the money through Venmo to Tanuvasa’s mother.
The total amount paid included $3,616 for the rental, $500 for a deposit on the property, $330 in taxes, and $1,257 for tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The payments were made before the scheduled trip on March 7th.
But the victim would become cautious of the interactions when he learned that Matthew had ongoing cases of fraud in Northern Utah. Due to the concerns, the victim had a friend who lived in Hawaii stop by the rental property. When he did, he found two people living in the home permanently with no clue what had happened.
The victim confronted Matthew about the issue, and Matthew referred the victim to another rental and stated that he was unable to return the money due to ongoing legal and financial issues, but he would repay him as soon as possible.
Investigators say the victim instead rented another property in Hawaii and continued with the trip. However, when the victim attempted to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, he was informed that the tickets he had bought from Matthew weren’t there, and he would have to pay again to visit the center.
The victim told detectives that he attempted to contact Matthew several times to get a refund, to no avail. Police also attempted to contact Matthew by calling and texting him but had no luck.
On April 1, police, in coordination with the Utah Highway Patrol and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, stopped Matthew’s vehicle near the state line for questioning.
When talking to the police, Matthew claimed that he didn’t own the property but had been renting it through the current owner. Investigators then informed Matthew that they had talked to the current owners, who didn’t know who Matthew was.
Matthew Liutai Tanuvasa was arrested on April 1 and faces a charge for theft valued between $1,500 and $4,999.
Hawaii
Hawaii County Surf Forecast for March 04, 2026 | Big Island Now
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 5-7 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||
| Winds | East winds 5 to 10 mph. | ||||||
|
|||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the upper 70s. | |||||
| Winds | East winds 10 to 15 mph. | |||||
|
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| Sunrise | 6:37 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:27 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly sunny until 6 PM, then mostly cloudy. Hazy. |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||||
| Winds | West winds around 5 mph early in the afternoon, becoming light and variable. |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Hazy. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the mid 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Light and variable winds, becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon. |
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|
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| Sunrise | 6:41 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:31 PM HST. | ||||||||
The current moderate northwest swell will continue a gradual decline through Thursday. A small west-northwest swell will arrive on Friday and hold through the weekend, followed by a small north-northwest swell early next week. Choppy east shore surf will build to near seasonal average by Wednesday as trade winds strengthen over and east of the islands. Little change is expected along east facing shores through the weekend, followed by a possible decline early next week if winds veer southerly. Surf along south facing shores will remain small to tiny through the weekend, and some islands may an increase in choppy surf if southerly winds develop early next week.
NORTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the early morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions move in during the morning hours with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi glassy in the morning with N winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting WNW 5-10mph.
SOUTH EAST
am
pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NE winds 10-15mph. This becomes Sideshore texture/chop for the afternoon.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
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