Question: Whatever happened to the man who was accused of using a cellphone to record video of a girl and a woman using public restrooms on Hawaii island?
Answer: Faavae Tuinei pleaded guilty Nov. 15 to two counts of first-degree violation of privacy for the two cases that occurred March 31 in two public restrooms in Hilo.
A circuit judge sentenced the 35-year-old to five years’ imprisonment on each count for a total of 10 years.
The judge also ordered him to pay to a DNA Special Fund an assessment of $500 or the actual cost of a DNA analysis, and $210 ($105 per count) to a crime victims compensation fund.
He is incarcerated at Halawa Correctional Facility.
Court minutes show Tuinei has a criminal history in Samoa.
Tuinei, who was in a public women’s restroom, was seen March 31 using a cellphone to record a 24-year-old woman using the restroom from an adjacent stall.
When other people confronted him, he left, police said.
Less than an hour later, Tuinei was seen using a cellphone to record a 13-year-old girl using a public restroom near Panaewa, Hawaii island.
During Tuinei’s preliminary hearing in April, the woman told the court that she reached for some toilet paper and screamed when she saw a phone move under the restroom stall at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The girl testified she was in a restroom stall at the Puainako Town Center when she saw a phone being held by a man underneath the stall’s partition, the newspaper said.
Police seized the phone after obtaining a search warrant. The phone showed the video of a female using the restroom and also showed Tuinei’s face, the Tribune-Herald said.
The girl’s cousin told the court her boyfriend chased Tuinei from the restroom, the Tribune-Herald reported.
A 25-year-old Hilo man, a relative of the girl’s, reportedly had a physical confrontation with Tuinei, police said.
A third-degree assault case was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.
A prosecutor handling the privacy case said he believes no one was charged in the assault case.
———
This update was written by Leila Fujimori. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser. com.
