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 Tuesday by Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai, according to a news release from the city prosecutor’s office.
Ochiai sentenced Martinez to 20 years — 10-year terms for second-degree sexual assault and attempted second-degree sexual assault — and to 10 years — five-year terms for two counts of third-degree sexual assault. One-year terms Martinez received for two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault will run at the same time as the 10-year term for second-degree sexual assault.
Martinez was found guilty in January 2015 of sexually assaulting girls who were 11 and 6 years old.
Meet with the police at Ewa Beach eatery
The public is invited to the Honolulu Police Department’s Coffee With a Cop event in Ewa Beach on Friday.
Residents can meet officers and discuss community issues and learn more about the department’s work in their neighborhoods from 7 to 9 a.m. at the McDonald’s on Fort Weaver Road.
HPD has organized several Coffee With a Cop events across Oahu, including locations in Wahiawa, Waikiki, Mililani and downtown Honolulu. Coffee With a Cop is a national initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Justice in an effort to forge lasting connections between police departments and the communities they serve.
For more information on the event, contact Cpl. Benjamin Lloyd at blloyd@ honolulu.gov.
Kenoi trial pushed back to October
The Circuit Court trial of Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, scheduled to begin next month, has been continued until October, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported Tuesday.
Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario from Oahu will preside over the trial now scheduled for Oct. 10 — a month before the November general election — because all Hawaii island judges recused themselves from handling the case except for District Judge Barbara Takase, who retired April 29.
The trial was supposed to begin July 18 in Hilo.
Kenoi is charged with four counts of theft, two of which are second-degree. Other charges include one count of false swearing and three counts of tampering with a government record. The case is related to his alleged use of a county-issued purchasing card for personal purchases. He has reimbursed the county more than $31,000.
Second-degree theft is a Class C felony, which carries a maximum five-year prison term upon conviction. The other charges are misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors, with maximum jail time of a year.
Kenoi’s term ends in December since he is prohibited by law from seeking a third consecutive term.
