A second Honolulu police officer is facing trial in state court on sexual assault charges.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging Nicholas K.H. Masagatani with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one of attempted fourth-degree sexual assault.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set Masagatani’s bail at $20,000.
Masagatani turned himself in at Honolulu Police Department headquarters and was released after posting bail.
Deputy Prosecutor Lynn Costales told Perkins that Masagatani and the woman who reported being sexually assaulted were acquaintances. She said they went to a concert during which Masagatani made unwelcomed sexual advances, including trying to have her touch him inappropriately.
After the concert, she said, Masagatani took the woman to his home, where he sexually assaulted her.
Costales said the woman left Masagatani’s home immediately and reported the incident to her boyfriend and police.
Police arrested the 30-year-old Masagatani on Aug. 2 at 3:45 a.m. at his home in Pauoa.
HPD says Masagatani is an eight-year veteran of the department who works in the Information and Technology Division. The department says it took away Masagatani’s police powers and put him on restricted duty following his arrest.
In 2012 the department awarded Masagatani its Gold Medal of Valor, the department’s highest award for bravery, for helping stop a suspect who fired at officers with a shotgun after fleeing from them in a stolen vehicle, carjacking another vehicle and attempting to carjack yet another one.
In November, another Oahu grand jury returned an indictment charging 35-year-old officer Kramer Jay Sueki Aoki with third-degree sexual assault. The former University of Hawaii baseball player is accused of grabbing the breast of a minor female in custody while on duty.
Aoki’s trial is scheduled for next month.