City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro dismissed charges stemming from the Honolulu Police Department’s new tactic to crack down on prostitution. The prosecutor cites insufficient evidence in refusing to prosecute 16 female massage parlor workers arrested last month on sexual assault charges.
In dismissing the charges Wednesday, Kaneshiro said: "Police make arrests based on probable cause, and in all of these arrests there was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause. However, in deciding whether to charge and take these cases to trial, my office had to determine whether the evidence was also sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Although the conduct might have constituted a technical violation of the law, proof beyond a reasonable doubt could not be established. Therefore, these cases were dismissed."
The case began April 30 when police arrested four massage parlor workers. The arrests then continued through the weekend.
Instead of arresting the 16 women for alleged prostitution, police charged them with fourth-degree sexual assault — a misdemeanor. If convicted, the women would have had to register as sex offenders and could have spent up to a year in jail. The maximum jail time for prostitution — a petty misdemeanor — is 30 days.
Police said they conducted the operation in response to public complaints.
Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha said in a statement Wednesday: "Today’s decision to dismiss the massage parlor sex assault cases does not change the Honolulu Police Department’s goal of addressing sex trafficking and prostitution by targeting pimps, massage parlor owners, and others who promote or profit from prostitution."
Police are working on the problem with the city prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, he said.
"HPD has met with judges, social service providers, and human-trafficking experts to address this important issue. Thus far the discussion has not yielded or produced a viable police strategy" other than to use enforcement of prostitution laws, Kealoha’s statement said. "HPD will continue to work closely with our law enforcement and community partners to address public complaints of prostitution at massage parlors."
The new tactic by HPD is unusual for a law enforcement agency, said legal experts and advocates for prostitutes.
"I think the charges being dropped is a clear sign that this isn’t a method HPD should use," Kathryn Xian, executive director of Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "I think it’s been an embarrassing situation for law enforcement."
According to state law, fourth-degree sexual assault occurs when a person knowingly subjects another person to sexual contact by compulsion or exposes his or her genitals under circumstances that would likely alarm the other person or cause the other person to fear bodily injury.
Attorney Myles Breiner represents five of the 16 women whom police arrested in the crackdown.
"This is comical. In all of these cases the police’s intent was to have sexual contact," he said.
Breiner said security video from one of the massage parlors shows an undercover police officer taking off his clothes before entering the massage room.
He said the arrests put the women who are not citizens at risk of deportation for getting arrested for a crime of moral turpitude. They face certain deportation for not reporting the arrest to immigration officials.
Breiner said all 16 women had their constitutional rights violated and they are considering filing a lawsuit against the police.
Earlier this week, in a response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser May 9 editorial against the current crackdown on message parlors, Kaneshiro joined other law enforcement officials in saying that those businesses "are not randomly chosen."
"Undercover officers are sent to locations and establishments that have already generated public complaints. If illegal activity is occurring, a police operation can temporarily disrupt the businesses and put the owner and workers on notice. It can also be a source of potential witnesses," the statement said.
Star-Advertiser reporter Nelson Daranciang and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
