Deputy accused in sex assault of prisoner
A state deputy sheriff has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman who was in custody.
Benjamin Fonoti was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on second-degree and third-degree sexual assault charges in an incident that allegedly occurred on Oct. 10, 2011. He will be arraigned before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins on Thursday. The indictment said Fonoti made the victim perform a sexual act on him while she was in custody in the Honolulu District Court cellblock.
Fonoti turned himself in and was booked by the Sheriff Division and released after posting $11,000 bail.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Woman injured by friend’s fall off mountain
A woman fell about 50 feet off a mountain Maui on Thursday and landed on her friend.
Maui firefighters were sent to an area known as Three Sisters, or Chutes and Ladders, about 4:45 p.m., a Maui Fire Department spokesman said.
Firefighters said a 30-year-old Flagstaff, Ariz., woman was using a rope to descend the side of a mountain when she lost her grip and fell on a 21-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., woman who was at the bottom of the mountain. The woman who fell sustained scrapes and bruises. The younger woman suffered possible head and neck injuries. She was airlifted to a landing zone, and an ambulance took her to the hospital in unknown condition.
Man arrested in arson case at Kauai church
Kauai police arrested a 50-year-old man in connection with a fire that occurred the night before Easter at the Christ Memorial Church in Kilauea.
Police said the suspect might homeless and living in the Kilauea area.
The fire, which caused about $1,500 damage, was reported about 10:15 p.m. April 7.
A man at the scene was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest but upon further questioning at the Lihue police station, he admitted to starting the fire and was subsequently arrested for third-degree arson. He posted $1,000 bail and is awaiting trial.
