Allegations from three more victims against accused child predator and former Punahou School girls basketball coach Dwayne Yuen resulted in five more federal charges Sept. 28.
Yuen, 49, entered a not-guilty plea to the charges Sept. 29 and remains in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu until his Feb. 6 trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Perlmutter, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment. Yuen’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Jacquelyn T. Esser, did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star- Advertiser request for comment.
Described by federal prosecutors in court documents as a “a prolific and aggressive child predator who has repeatedly targeted minors,” the FBI set up a website, email address and hotline for potential victims after Yuen was charged in February with possession of child pornography.
In that case, FBI agents received information in July 2022 that Yuen was involved with a 14-year-old girl starting when he was a basketball coach during her freshman year of high school in 2016 and continuing through 2020.
According to a superseding indictment secured Sept. 28, Yuen is now also charged with sex trafficking of a minor. It says from December 2005 through the spring of 2006, he allegedly “recruited, enticed, harbored, obtained, and transported” “minor victim 1” to engage in a commercial sex act.
The indictment also charges Yuen with coercion and enticement.
From March through June 2006 Yuen allegedly attempted to and did “knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce minor victim 2” to have sex with him.
Yuen also allegedly produced child pornography, according to the superseding indictment.
In September 2020, Yuen got “minor victim 3” to engage in “sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct” so he could store it, re-watch it and share with pedophiles.
The superseding indictment also charges Yuen with receipt of child pornography for the activity involving “minor victim 3.”
The final new charge against Yuen is for a single count of harassing telephone calls. Between January and February he allegedly used a phone to anonymously “abuse, threaten, and harass” a person identified in federal court documents as “victim 4.”
Yuen’s alleged conduct in the federal criminal case happened after the allegations outlined against him in lawsuits brought against him and Punahou School by former players alleging sexual assault and abuse. Yuen left Punahou in 2006, and the lawsuits were settled in August 2021.
The lawsuits were brought in 2020 by victims who were underage student athletes at Punahou in the mid-2000s.
Shawna-Lei Kuehu, who starred on her basketball teams in high school and college, mixed martial arts champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and her sister Mahina Macfarlane Souza were among the women who accused Yuen of sexual assault, “unwanted sexual advances” and sexual “grooming” while playing basketball at Punahou.
The Macfarlane sisters’ lawsuit also alleged that Punahou “did nothing to protect the girls” from Yuen after they reported him to the school and instead “covered up, conspired, and swept the Macfarlane sisters’ report under the rug.”
YOU CAN HELP
The FBI is still actively seeking information related to the investigation of Dwayne Yuen.
Witnesses and victims are asked to:
>> Call: 808-673-2719.
>> Email: yueninvestigation@fbi.gov.
>> Online: forms.fbi.gov/yueninvestigation.
