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Foster child advocate sentenced to 30 years for sex assault of girls

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  • GEORGE F. LEE / JAN. 16, 2015

    A Circuit Court jury found Louis A. Martinez was found guilty on six counts of sexual assault in the courtroom of Judge Dean Ochiai.

A Hawaii man who ran an organization that recruited parents for hard-to-adopt foster children was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting two girls in 2011.

Louis Martinez, who opened and ran Heart Gallery Hawaii, a local chapter of a national organization, was sentenced today by Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai, according to a news release from the office of Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro.

Ochiai sentenced Martinez to 10-year terms for second-degree sexual assault and attempted second-degree sexual assault; five-year terms for two third-degree sexual assaults; and one-year terms for two fourth-degree sexual assaults.

The two ten-year sentences and two five-year sentences will be served consecutively, totaling 30 years. The one-year terms will be served concurrently, or at the same time.

After deliberating for less than three hours, a jury found Martinez guilty in January 2015 of sexually assaulting the girls, who were 11 and 6 years old.

Prosecutors said he assaulted the older girl in her sleep after giving her hard liquor.

Martinez opened Heart Gallery Hawaii in 2005 under the name David Louis. That’s the name he used to author a book about his experiences growing up in foster care.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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