Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
A Circuit Court trial for a 24-year-old Uber driver accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl is scheduled to begin in June.
Luke Wadahara was arraigned in Circuit Court on Thursday morning via closed-circuit video from Oahu Community Correctional Center. He entered a plea of not guilty to two counts of first-degree sex assault and one count of first-degree attempted sex assault. He is being held at the Kalihi facility unable to post bail of $150,000.
His case was assigned to Circuit Judge Karen Ahn, and trial is scheduled to begin the week of June 27.
He was indicted by an Oahu grand jury April 22 for allegedly sexually assaulting the girl in Makiki.
The victim told police she and her friends requested an Uber ride from Ala Moana Center on April 17. A black Dodge Charger with the personalized license plate “SEXI” arrived, with Wadahara as the driver, a police affidavit said.
The girl’s friends were dropped off first in Mililani. Instead of taking the victim to her home in Nuuanu, the suspect drove to Makiki and sexually assaulted her several times, the affidavit said.
The victim and her mother looked for the suspect in the Uber profile and on Facebook and turned over the information to police.
Police traced the registered owner of the black Charger and arrested Wadahara at his Kapiolani-area apartment.
