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Suspected Mililani Walmart voyeur is a registered sex offender in Texas

COURTESY CRIMESTOPPERS HONOLULU

Honolulu police arrested and charged Friday Matthew Katakura, 34, for allegedly taking photos up a woman’s skirt in the Mililani Walmart.

Police charged a 34-year-old man after he allegedly took photos up a woman’s skirt at the Mililani Walmart.

Matthew Katakura was arrested and charged Friday with violation of privacy in the second degree, a misdemeanor. He was released after posting $2,000 bail and has a court appearance scheduled for late next month.

Police arrested Katakura in Mililani Friday afternoon after CrimeStoppers and Honolulu police released surveillance images of a male Wednesday when they sought the public’s help in identifying the suspect in connection with the privacy violation case.

Police said an unknown male later identified as Katakura entered the store at about 10:30 p.m. Oct. 6, took out his cell phone, and allegedly began to take photos up a customer’s skirt.

He left the store in an unknown vehicle after the victim confronted him.

Katakura does not have a criminal record in Hawaii, but he is registered as a sex offender in Texas, where the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry describes him as a “moderate risk.”

The Texas database says he must register annually until 2022 and that he lives in Hawaii.

In 2007, Katakura was convicted of indecency with a 13-year-old girl by exposure, the Texas registry says. He was given five years probation with community supervision.

Second-degree violation of privacy is punishable by up to a year in jail and is defined in one sense as a person covertly recording “an image of another person’s intimate area underneath clothing, by use of any device, and that image is taken while that person is in a public place and without that person’s consent.”

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