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A city worker who was depicted on live video allegedly propositioning a transgender probationer for sexual favors pleaded not guilty Monday in Oahu’s Circuit Court.
Defendant Harold Villanueva Jr., 47, appeared before Oahu’s First Circuit Court Judge Colette Garibaldi, who set a trial for the week of Dec. 19.
Villanueva was arrested in July on a charge of fourth- degree sex assault. Villanueva, who had worked for the city since 2002, was put on unpaid leave from his job as a groundskeeper in the Department of Parks and Recreation pending an internal investigation. He is now on paid leave.
Police began investigating Villanueva after Makana Milho, 21, secretly recorded and posted live to Facebook about 30 minutes of conversations that she alleges were between her and Villanueva, who was supervising her court-ordered community service.
Milho, who was fulfilling the terms of her probation, had been ordered to complete six days of community service to get a theft charge expunged from her record. She said her fifth day was interrupted when the work-site supervisor acted inappropriately.
In the viral video, a man can be heard telling Milho that she can go home early if she will perform sexual favors. Milho also alleged that he tried to hold her hand and pinched and slapped her buttocks while she was cleaning park bathrooms.
