A 67-year-old Lihue man faces up to 30 years in prison after he was found guilty of failing to register as a sex offender.
A Kauai Circuit Court jury on Thursday found Rogelio Lahip Ganotisi guilty of three counts of failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. His sentencing is set for Dec. 17.
In February 2013, Ganotisi was released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for three counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening and family abuse. The offenses occurred in July and August 1991 when the victim was 13 and 14.
Though advised numerous times by the Kauai Community Correctional Center, prosecutor’s office and the Kauai Police Department of his requirement to register as a sex offender, Ganotisi refused to do so, claiming he was innocent, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Convicted man fails to show up at prison
A 53-year-old man convicted of wire fraud in federal court in Honolulu is facing up to 10 years in prison for failing to show up for his sentence of about 3-1/2 years.
A U.S. District Court jury in Honolulu convicted Ruben Carrillo Gonzalez on Wednesday of failing to surrender to federal authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Honolulu said in a release.
In September 2012, Gonzalez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi to three years and five months in prison for wire fraud.
He remained out of custody, pending an appeal that was eventually rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kobayashi ordered Gonzalez to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence at a federal prison in California on Jan. 5.
U.S. Marshals arrested Gonzalez at his Arizona home on Jan. 9 after he failed to show up at prison.
Failure to surrender is an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison and is required to run consecutive to the term of imprisonment that Gonzalez failed to show up for, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Kauai remains under drought despite rain
LIHUE >> Kauai is still under drought conditions, despite greener pastures and recent rainfall connected to Tropical Storm Ignacio.
Lihue finished August unofficially with 9.84 inches of rain, a vast improvement from last year’s 1.4 inches, the Garden Island reported Thursday.
“We had a pretty good August (for rainfall),” said Keith Komar, meteorologist technician at the Lihue weather station. “Most of the rain came that night we had the thunderstorms (Aug. 30), when Lihue Airport picked up 1.16 inches.”
But while some parts of the island have been drenched, not everywhere fared as well. Leeward areas of Kauai reported very little rain, with most areas seeing less than an inch for the period ending Sept. 1.
“After checking with the Farm Service Bureau, there are improving conditions where some of the dry areas, or D0 (dry, but not drought) areas, were trimmed back, including Niihau island,” said Kevin Kodama, hydrologist with the Weather Forecasting Office in Honolulu. “But this wasn’t enough to make a difference in terms of grass growing back strong, so although some of the D0 areas were trimmed back, we did see some improvements, which will be indicated in the next drought impact statement on Sept. 10.”
The National Weather Service has continued its severe drought conditions for portions of Kauai, including areas in the lower elevations from Hanapepe to Kalepa Ridge. Vegetation and pasture conditions in that area remain poor.
