Woman pleads not guilty to trafficking teen, mom from Guam

HONOLULU — A woman pleaded not guilty to charges accusing her and her husband of trafficking a mother and teenaged girl from Guam to Hawaii, taking away their passports and beating them.

Pomerrine Robert was arraigned Thursday but a hearing for her husband, Kevin Robert, was postponed.

His hearing is postponed until next week because he needs a Chuukese interpreter, said Robert’s lawyer, Tim Rakieten.

State Public Defender James Tabe, whose office is representing Pomerrine Robert, declined to comment on the case.

According to court documents, Pomerrine Robert demanded money for the 15-year-old girl and mother to get their passports back after they arrived in Honolulu in August.

The documents didn’t specify the country of the passports.

They lived in the couple’s apartment, while the girl enrolled at a high school and the mother got a job at a deli where Pomerrine Robert also worked, the documents said.

The documents said Robert took away the mother’s money, the girl was expected to clean the apartment and Robert beat the girl and mother.

The couple locked the girl in a bedroom for several days and she reported it to a school counselor after she was let out, according to the documents.