Sex offender arraigned on charges of sex assault of teen
HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
James Pineda. Pineda appeared at his arraignment before Judge Clarence Pacarro via closed-circuit video link from the Oahu Community Correctional Center Thursday on charges of two counts of first-degree sexual assault involving a person who at least 14 years old and younger than 16 years old and six counts of third-degree sexual assault.
A circuit judge set trial for a 55-year-old registered sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a minor.
James Buddy Pineda appeared at his arraignment before Judge Clarence Pacarro via closed-circuit video link from the Oahu Community Correctional Center Thursday on charges of two counts of first-degree sexual assault involving a person who is at least 14 years old and younger than 16 years old and six counts of third-degree sexual assault.
Deputy Public Defender Crystal Glendon entered a not guilty plea to the charges.
Pacarro set Pineda’s trial for December.
During the arraignment, Pacarro denied Pineda’s request for supervised release. He remains in custody at the correctional facility in lieu of $500,000 bail.
The alleged assaults occurred on or about Nov. 1, 2015 to Feb. 29, 2016. It’s unclear where the assaults occurred.
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He turned himself in to police on Oct. 18 after an Oahu grand jury executed a $500,000 bench warrant against him after they indicted Pineda with multiple counts of sexual assault involving a minor.
He was previously convicted in the 1984 rape and robbery of a woman in Mililani. Pineda was sentenced in 1986 to a maximum 20-year prison term and paroled in 1994 and discharged from parole in September 1998.
The Hawaii Sex Offender Registry website indicated Pineda has resided at a Hulahe Street home in Waipahu since July 2012.
