LIHU‘E — A registered sex offender will restart his felony probation and spend six months in jail for missing an appointment and for not abiding by orders pertaining to his living arrangements.
Justin Espinueva, 28, of Lihu‘e, had just started working at an area restaurant when he was arrested for violating the terms of his probation.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Arin said this is a case of a defendant with “major boundary issues.” He chose to do what was preferable to him rather than comply with the terms of his probation, she said.
State Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Sato said Espinueva agreed to the stipulation admission agreement with the state against her advice. She said there are mitigating circumstances and that the defendant was not attempting to mislead probation.
The defendant was living with a girlfriend and her two children with the approval of his treatment team and probation officer, Sato said. The residence was part of a local women’s shelter and probation was asked to order his removal as a sex offender.
Espinueva then moved to an additional dwelling unit of his girlfriend’s mother, and upon approval for a unit in another facility, reported that address before he actually moved. In the meantime he started working at a well-paying hotel restaurant, she said.
Arin said the witness accounts differed and that the defendant was still living with his girlfriend when he indicated he was not.
Judge Kathleen Watanabe of the 5th Circuit said the court was inclined to agree that the defendant chose not to comply with instructions given to him by the probation department. She said he failed to notify the registry and probation of his current address, and did not comply with instructions from probation.
Watanabe said that as a convicted sex-offender he must maintain accurate information with the sex-offender registry for the rest of his life.
Espinueva was sentenced to 18 months in prison in September 2009, after pleading no contest to nine counts of consensual sex in two cases, with two 14-year-old girls when he was 22 years old, as reported by The Garden Island at the sentencing hearing.
He was sentenced on seven of the charges, which included four counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of third-degree sexual assault.
•Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
