Visitor who came without a hotel or a return ticket is put on a flight back to the mainland

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Washington visitor who arrived in Hawaii from the mainland without accommodations and apparently without enough money to buy a return ticket has now left the islands — but not before allegedly violating mandatory quarantine rules.

John Ryan Adams, 24, arrived in Honolulu on a flight from Seattle on Sunday and was told to turn around.

There were no flights leaving that night so the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii purchased a ticket for him for the earliest flight the next day and paid for a room at the Pacific Marina Inn near Honolulu’s airport.

VASH Director Jessica Rich said Adams was made aware of the mandatory quarantine rules for visitors and knew he could not leave the hotel. But within hours, he checked himself out and walked away.

Sheriff’s deputies were called and located him near the Wendy’s restaurant on Puuloa Road.

Deputies took him back to the airport and waited with him until his flight out.

Adams is just the latest visitor to come to Hawaii and violate the rules of the strict, 14-day quarantine.

He’s also had previous run-ins with the law, pleading no contest to a domestic violence charge in Texas in 2018 and facing two criminal cases for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. He has hearings scheduled for May.

State lawmakers have asked for tougher enforcement of the quarantine for tourists who are lured by cheap rates.

Upon arrival, visitors are now greeted with enhanced screening measures that include phone and hotel verification.

“Compliance is something we hope people do in return for coming to our state during this crisis period,” said state Attorney General Clare Connors, who is examining the legal questions surrounding the use of tracking devices, too.

“The degree with which we need to increase the enforcement by imposing things like ankle bracelets or other modern devices is still a question that we’re looking at.”

Other state agencies have suggested a hotel as a quarantine site for visitors.

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