Counselor indicted in solicitation of a minor

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Kapolei High School counselor Kendrick Padilla with soliciting a minor for prostitution.

The crime is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

State Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set bail for Padilla at $10,000.

Honolulu Police Department vice officers arrested Padilla, 39, at the high school May 3 and booked him on suspicion of street solicitation of a prostitute in Waikiki. HPD later said it arrested him on suspicion of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

While Padilla was still in custody, the Department of Education said it reassigned Padilla to a job at the school that does not involve direct contact with students. The department placed Padilla on paid leave when Honolulu police released him without charges two days after his arrest. Kapolei Principal Elden Esmeralda also sent a letter to the parents and guardians of his students to inform them that the DOE was cooperating with police.

DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Padilla did not return to work and that the department is conducting its own investigation.

According to the city prosecutor’s office, the minor girl was a runaway who, with the help of another runaway, set up an ad for herself on backpage.com under a fictitious name. Padilla called the number on the ad to set up a date, the prosecutor’s office said.

When the girl arrived at Padilla’s home, he asked the girl whether she recognized him, according to the prosecutor’s office. Padilla told the girl that he was her former high school counselor and showed her his school identification.

The prosecutor’s office said the girl became uncomfortable, but Padilla told her they could still continue the date.

According the the indictment, Padilla solicited the girl from March 23 to April 4.

The girl was later caught in an undercover sting and taken to the juvenile detention facility in Kapolei, where she told a counselor about her encounter with Padilla; the counselor, in turn, reported it to police, the prosecutor’s office said.

Padilla had been working at Kapolei High since 2009, when he obtained his Hawaii school counselor license.