HONOLULU — A 29-year-old Ewa Beach man pleaded not guilty to federal allegations that he groomed his boss’s 14-year-old daughter into having sex and filming, according to federal court records.
Denzel Scott, 29, an athletic team coach at an undisclosed private secondary school in Honolulu, was facing one federal charge of production of child pornography before he was indicted June 27 for sexual exploitation of a child. He was also arrested by an officer with the Honolulu Police Department on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault.
The charges against Scott are connected to his employment at a private security company, but he also was an “athletic team coach at a private secondary school in Honolulu.” The U.S. Department of Justice did not disclose which school.
Scott’s attorney, First Deputy Public Defender Craig W. Jerome, did not respond to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request seeking comment. Scott pleaded not guilty Friday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Nolan is prosecuting the case.
Scott is being held at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, ahead of his trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson at 9 a.m. on Aug. 26.
According to an affidavit authored by an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scott allegedly made child pornography on Nov. 16, 2023.
On April 5, a Honolulu Police Department detective took a sexual assault police report by the parents of the victim, who is now 15, according to federal court documents.
While working for the security company owned by the victim’s father, Scott got close to the girl, who was a “casual worker for the company.”
On Nov. 28, 2023, the girl’s parents found her with a vape and a mobile phone. The parents checked her phone and found out she was direct-messaging Scott using Instagram.
“The phone did not appear to connect to a cellular signal, but did connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi,” according to the complaint.
Scott knew the girl was 14 and allegedly pushed for a relationship. The girl’s father fired him.
In December an employee told the father that Scott took her to his house and had sex with the girl. Another employee told him that Scott had sex with the 14-year-old again in December.
The parents installed Spyrix parental control software on a MacBook Pro computer that the girl’s parents bought her. Spyrix takes a screen shot of the computer every 10 seconds while the computer is in use. When they reviewed her use, they discovered she was still having sex with Scott.
On April 17, an HPD detective reviewed the forensic extractions of the girl’s devices and “found numerous deleted text messages” that allegedly contained sexual discussions and declarations. A search warrant was executed April 21, and police seized an Apple iPhone and a Google Android cellphone.
The girl was interviewed the next day by police at the Children’s Justice Center of O‘ahu and disclosed that “she did have sexual encounters” with Scott in November and March. She “further disclosed that she believed there were videos taken.”
Messages were extracted from a Google Android seized from Scott’s residence in April, and FBI agents allegedly found six videos of sexual intercourse and activities.
