Ex-teacher at Kamehameha Schools gets 10 years for sexually assaulting student

A circuit judge sentenced a former Kamehameha Schools faculty member to prison after he was convicted of multiple counts of sex assault involving a 14-year-old student.

Judge Fa’auuga To’oto’o on Friday sentenced James Maeda, former assistant band director at the Kapalama campus, to a 10-year term for 10 counts of second-degree sex assault and a five-year term for one count of third-degree sex assault. The terms are to run concurrently.

“You didn’t care about the consequences. You abused your authority as a teacher,” said To’oto’o.

The assaults occurred between June 2017 and February 2018, mostly on campus. The teen was 14 when it began and turned 15 during that time period.

In February 2018 the teen’s mother discovered sex-related text messages on her daughter’s cellphone. When the mother confronted her, the teen told her about her relationship with Maeda.

During sentencing the victim’s mother addressed Maeda and the court. “This man has taken so much from her,” she said, crying.

The mother said Maeda, 25, groomed and manipulated her daughter since she was in the seventh grade. “He abused his power and misused her trust,” she said.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is not identifying the mother to protect the victim’s identity.

Kamehameha Schools terminated Maeda in March.

The sentencing comes a year to the day after news broke that Kamehameha Schools reached an $80 million settlement with 32 former students who had sued the school, alleging that they were sexually abused decades ago by a psychiatrist while they were students or treated by him.

The $80 million agreement is considered the largest personal injury settlement in the state’s history.

Dr. Robert Browne, who treated hundreds of troubled Kamehameha students from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, killed himself in 1991 after being confronted by one of his victims.

In a September plea agreement, Maeda pleaded guilty to 10 counts of second- degree assault and one count of third-degree sex assault.

During his sentencing, Maeda apologized to the victim’s family. “I’d like to express my deepest and sincerest apologies to my victim and her family.”

He told the court he has been involved in sex offender treatment and attending Bible studies at his church over the past year.

“This has allowed me to gain a deeper and more complete understanding of how my actions have negatively affected my victim,” Maeda said. “Because of that, I can stand here confident today and say that I completely regret my actions and I wish I can take them back. Not because of the consequences I will be facing, but because of the unintended consequences my victim has and will face.”

Maeda’s attorney, Richard Sing, asked the judge to enforce the plea agreement. “When this first happened, James admitted his conduct to police.”

“He pled to all the incidents that were alleged, and he immediately took responsibility and admitted his conduct,” Sing said during sentencing, adding Maeda has been involved in the Sex Offender Treatment Program in the past year.

Deputy Prosecutor Ayla Weiss said Maeda minimized his behavior when police spoke to him. “This was a long period of manipulation by the defendant.”

Weiss added when Kamehameha Schools initially learned of allegations of a sexual relationship between Maeda and the victim, instead of investigating, they jumped to conclusions and “made the victim apologize to the defendant,” she said.

In an emailed statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Elizabeth Ahuna said, “We deeply regret the hurt that our student and her family endured due to Mr. Maeda’s actions. Kamehameha Schools takes all accusations of abuse and violence very seriously. We strive to take the necessary steps to protect the safety and wellbeing of all our haumana by encouraging our students to report actions that may present physical or emotional harm to themselves or others, promptly investigating reports, taking action and cooperating with authorities.”

“When KS first learned about an alleged relationship involving Mr. Maeda, KS immediately contacted the student’s family and opened an investigation. Actions were taken at the time based on what we learned during the investigation,” Ahuna said. “When KS later determined that the initial information given to KS was not correct, we reopened the investigation, took immediate action that led to Mr. Maeda’s termination and cooperated fully with HPD. “

Star-Advertiser reporter Rob Perez contributed to this report.