A family of four and a nephew who were asleep escaped injury when the carport attached to their Waipahu home caught fire early yesterday morning, but the family's pet dog was killed.

The fire at 94-278 Loa'a St. was reported about 3:45 a.m. and was under control shortly after 4 a.m.

Neighbors said they awoke to a foul smell and saw smoke coming from the home. They said the homeowner is a mechanic.

Fire Department Capt. Rob Main said the fire appeared to have started in the back of the carport.

Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading, and the family was allowed to return to the home as HFD was leaving, Main said, but the house did suffer some smoke damage.

MAN SOUGHT IN TWO BANK ROBBERIES

Law enforcement officials are seeking to arrest a 33-year-old man wanted on a federal warrant charging him with robbing two banks last week.

William Avian Mara III is suspected of Wednesday's robberies at Hawaii National Bank's Dillingham Boulevard branch in Kalihi and American Savings Bank in Waipahu, according to a Honolulu CrimeStoppers bulletin released yesterday.

Officials consider Mara armed and dangerous.

Mara's criminal record in Hawai'i includes convictions for auto theft, third-degree promotion of dangerous drugs and misdemeanor assault.

Anyone with information on Mara's whereabouts may call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.

$18,500 FINE IN COPPER THEFT CASE

A scrap metal dealer has been fined $18,500 and sentenced to five years of probation for violating the state copper theft law.

Kyung Hee Chon was charged last year following an undercover police investigation. She failed to complete paperwork verifying the identities of individuals offering scrap copper for sale.

Chon had previously pleaded guilty to charges connected with the purchase of a 653-pound spool of copper wiring owned by Hawaiian Electric Co.

Circuit Judge Richard Pollack refused a defense request to defer Chon's guilty plea to the new charges. But the judge withheld imposition of a six-month jail sentence, citing her cooperation in an investigation by the state attorney general's office of an unrelated burglary case.

Chon was an employee of Aiea Recycling, a business that has since closed.

She agreed to repay the fines at a rate of $400 per month. Pollack also ordered the defendant to complete 100 hours of community service.

HELP SOUGHT FINDING WOMAN

Police yesterday asked for the public's help in finding a 79-year-old woman who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and does not speak or understand English.

Anicia Manzano was last seen at 6 p.m. Thursday near The Queen's Medical Center.

Manzano is 5 feet 2 and 90 pounds. She was last seen wearing a green sweater and floral print dress.

Anyone with information may call Honolulu CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.

TIM CHAPMAN TO BE ARRAIGNED

Bounty hunter Tim Chapman, a member of Duane "Dog" Chapman's crew, will be arraigned tomorrow on a charge of first-degree terroristic threatening related to an incident at Ala Moana Center last week.

Additional possible charges of indecent exposure are under investigation, authorities said.

Ala Moana security guards responded to reports Thursday evening of a man fondling himself in the rear seat of a pickup truck. The man then jumped in the front seat and drove off, nearly hitting a guard.

Chapman, 42, who is not related to Duane Chapman but regularly appeared on the bounty hunter's reality television show, had spilled orange juice on himself and was trying to change clothes, according to his attorney, Brook Hart.

Chapman turned himself in to police Friday and was released after posting $11,000 bail.

ISLE-BASED SAILOR DECLARED DEAD

A sailor assigned to a Pearl Harbor-based ship was declared dead on Friday after apparently going overboard from a destroyer in the Arabian Sea the day before, the Defense Department reported yesterday.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Menelek M. Brown, 24, of Roswell, N.M., was assigned to the USS Hopper, a guided-missile destroyer.

Navy aircraft and ships conducted an extensive search but did not find him.

SUSPECTS ARRESTED AFTER KID CALLS 911

A 911 call placed by one of four children in a Wahiawa house yesterday led to the capture of two burglary suspects.

Police responding to the call from the 900 block of Peach Street arrested two 'Ewa men in the home for investigation of first-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools and drug paraphernalia and promotion of a dangerous drug.

One of the two men, 28-year-old Joseph Anthony Pasion, was being held on two outstanding violation warrants of $20,000 each. Pasion has 14 prior criminal convictions. The second suspect is 35 years old.

Police said the children were at home alone and saw two strangers in the driveway of their home. The men knocked on the door. The children did not answer. The men went in back of the house and began removing window louvers. It was then that one of the children called 911, police said.

The 911 operator advised the children to get out of the house, which they did, and they were watching from across the street when police arrived.