A 20-year-old Mililani resident will be extradited to Oregon on a rape charge stemming from an attack that allegedly occurred while he was a student at Pacific University.
Kasen Kunishima-Takushi was arrested Tuesday by Honolulu police on an extradition warrant issued by police in Forest Grove, Ore., where Pacific University is located. Authorities have charged Kunishima-Takushi with one count of first-degree rape and three counts of first-degree sodomy.
Kunishima-Takushi is being held in lieu of $520,000 bail at Oahu Community Correctional Center while he awaits extradition to Oregon.
After an extradition hearing in Circuit Court on Thursday, Judge Colette Garibaldi ordered that Kunishima-Takushi be sent back to Washington County, Ore., before Nov. 3 for trial in the city of Hillsboro.
Attorney Randall Hironaka sought to have Kunishima-Takushi’s bail reduced and to allow his grandparents, who raised him, to transport him to Honolulu Airport where he would board a plane — the ticket to be paid for by the grandparents — to Oregon and then meet authorities there.
Hironaka said that Kunishima-Takushi is not a fugitive and that when he left Oregon last year, the case was not active.
However, Deputy Prosecutor Leigh Okimoto argued against any bail reduction and asked that Garibaldi increase Kunishima-Takushi’s bail because of the severity of the crime and because of an ongoing Hawaii investigation. After the hearing, Okimoto declined to elaborate on the local investigation.
Hironaka interrupted Okimoto’s arguments before she could elaborate, saying she wasn’t addressing the question of bail.
In requesting a higher bail amount, Okimoto said Kunishima-Takushi was accused of three incidents in Oregon, two of which were “very violent in nature and resulted in injuries.”
Garibaldi rejected all of Hironaka’s requests and reaffirmed the $520,000 bail amount set by Oregon authorities.
Forest Grove police said a female Pacific University student reported three assaults on and off campus in early November. The woman went to police three weeks after the alleged attacks, in late November, by which time Kunishima-Takushi was back in Hawaii.
Joe Lang, Pacific University spokesman, confirmed that Kunishima-Takushi was a student at the school for the 2014-15 academic year and the first two months of the 2015-2016 year.
Lang declined to say whether the victim reported the incidents to university officials before calling the police.
“Pacific University respects the legal process and, as such, will refrain from making statements related to active legal matters,” Lang said in a written statement. “The safety and security of all students, employees and guests of Pacific University are very important. The university takes allegations and reports of sexual misconduct seriously, and offers a number of resources for university community members, guests and others who may have had an unwanted sexual experience.”
Kunishima-Takushi was a cornerback on the Pacific football team, according to Pacific’s online roster.
He is currently a freshman at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he was arrested Tuesday.
