The man who opened and ran Heart Gallery Hawaii, the local chapter of a national organization that recruits parents for hard-to-adopt foster children, is guilty of sexually assaulting two girls.
A state jury deliberated less than three hours Friday before finding Louis A. Martinez guilty of three counts of felony sexual assault, one count of attempted felony sexual assault and two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault.
The girls reported that Martinez sexually assaulted them in 2011. One of the girls was 11 years old at the time. The other girl was 16.
Martinez, 38, faces sentencing in April.
An Oahu grand jury charged Martinez in 2013 with sexual assaults involving the 16-year-old girl. Less than two months later, Martinez left Hawaii without the court’s permission while on release under the supervision of an elderly Aiea couple who had adopted him as an adult.
Authorities caught up with Martinez on the mainland and extradited him back to Hawaii in February. Then in July another grand jury returned a new indictment against him, adding a sexual assault charge involving the 11-year-old.
Martinez opened Heart Gallery Hawaii in 2005 under the name David Louis. The state said Martinez has also used the name David Barber.
He again used the name David Louis in 2006 when he released a book he authored titled "Scars That Can Heal." He said the book chronicles his experiences growing up in the foster care system in California, getting placed in foster homes 30 times and changing schools 19 times.
When he left the foster care system upon turning 18, he said he was hired as a crisis counselor at the juvenile detention facility where he was confined.
At the time of the book release, Martinez said he had already worked for 10 years on Oahu as a counselor in schools and social care facilities. During his trial he also said he is a trainer for foster parents.
In 2001 he was working as a caregiver for Nursefinders Inc. when a 20-year-old disabled man drowned at Kailua Beach Park while under his care. The parents of the man sued Martinez and Nursefinders in 2003, then later agreed to a confidential, out-of-court settlement.
