Ahuimanu man pleads not guilty to sexting minor
A 45-year-old former part-time elementary school worker charged with sending a text message to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex, is scheduled to go on trial the week of Aug. 22.
Douglas John Lopez, entered a plea of not guilty this morning on a charge of first-degree electronic enticement of a child, a class B felony that carries a penalty of a 10-year mandatory prison term.
A Oahu Grand Jury indicted Lopez, of Ahuimanu, on Thursday.
His trial will be before Circuit Judge Michael Wilson.
Before his arrest, Lopez worked one hour, two days a week as a part-time school lunch supervisor at Benjamin Parker Elementary School, and as a Bishop Museum security guard.
It is the second Hawaii case in which the victim was a child — not an undercover agent — according to the state attorney general’s office.
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Lopez allegedly contacted a 13-year-old girl using a cellphone text message and arranged to meet her for sex.
He is free on $40,000 bail.
Lopez was arrested at the Kaneohe Zippy’s restaurant on May 19. The indictment is a result of efforts by the Hawaii Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, that includes the Department of the Attorney General, Honolulu Police Department, U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI.
The first case in the state where a person has been indicted for the crime involving a child instead of an undercover officer occurred in Maui in 2006. This is the first such prosecution by the state Attorney General’s Office. Lopez is the 37th first-degree electronic enticement case in Hawaii.