A former Oahu public school teacher awaiting trial on state allegations that he sexually assaulted a student agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of producing child pornography in the same case.
Alden Bunag, 34, will face 15 to 30 years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Jan. 16 before Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway. He must also pay a $5,100 in special assessments and a production of child pornography conviction assessment of $50,000.
Bunag must also pay
restitution to his victims in an amount to be determined by the court. He has been in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu since June 21, 2022.
He was indicted Sept. 30, 2022, in state court on charges of continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 and promoting child abuse. Bunag’s trial date in the state case was reset Monday, and a status conference is scheduled for Jan. 29.
He entered into a plea agreement with the U.S.
Department of Justice on May 19. In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed not to pursue charges related to material found on his electronic devices that were seized by federal agents.
Bunag’s attorney in the federal case, Assistant
Federal Public Defender
Jacquelyn T. Esser, did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca A. Perlmutter is prosecuting the case for the government.
According to the state
Department of Education, Bunag worked from 2016 to 2017 as a part-time temporary teacher at Ilima Intermediate School.
He had been a substitute teacher since 2017 in the Leeward District and had worked in various positions since 2012. Bunag was most recently a part-time teacher at Pearl City High School, where he had held a permanent secondary teaching position from 2020 to 2021.
Bunag was charged June 15, 2022, in federal court with distribution of child pornography but was not charged with sexual assault since that is not the U.S.
Department of Justice’s
jurisdiction.
The federal criminal information alleges Bunag, in
online chats with a Philadelphia teacher, said he had sex with a 13-year-old former student during lunch breaks at school.
Bunag also said he used camera equipment to record multiple “sexual encounters” with the boy.
The state indictment charges him with three counts of continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 for allegedly engaging in three or more sexual acts from Aug. 1, 2016, to Sept. 27, 2017.
Bunag also taught dance and ran a photography business under the names amb.creative media and alden.
alternatemedia, taking senior high school and family photographs, according to an affidavit written by an FBI agent. The state indictment also charges him with promotion of child abuse for
allegedly producing or participating in the preparation of child pornography from Aug. 1, 2016, to Sept. 27, 2017.
The indictment says the child used in the pornography created by Bunag is the same minor he allegedly sexually assaulted. The Oahu grand jury issued a no-contact order for the duration of the case and set Bunag’s state bail at $250,000.
The federal complaint said FBI agents investigating a male middle school teacher in Philadelphia notified agents in Honolulu that the Philadelphia educator and Bunag had exchanged more than 3,392 messages, including hundreds of pornographic images and videos of children.
