A former youth basketball coach was convicted after pleading guilty to 12 offenses related to child sex crimes that could result in him spending the rest of his life in prison.
Dwayne Yuen, a 51-year-old Honolulu resident and former Punahou School basketball coach, entered his plea Thursday before Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright.
Yuen admitted to all 12 counts, which collectively charged him with child exploitation and harassment offenses.
The crimes involved three minor victims, with Yuen pleading guilty to sex trafficking Minor Victim 1 in 2005 and 2006; coercing and enticing Minor Victim 2 to engage in sexual activity in 2006; and producing, receiving and possessing child pornography involving Minor Victim 3 between 2020 and 2023.
He also admitted to harassing victims identified as Victims 4 through 10 through anonymous and obscene communications from 2021 to 2023.
The victims were players on the basketball teams Yuen coached, with Victims 4 through 9 being around 18 years old at the time of the harassment and Victim 10 being 17 years old.
In 2020, Shawna-Lei Kuehu, a Punahou School basketball champion, sued Yuen — her former coach — and the school, alleging sexual assault and abuse.
Kuehu, a 2008 graduate, was among several women who have accused Yuen of sexual abuse while at Punahou, with claims that the school did nothing to prevent it.
Other plaintiffs, including mixed martial arts champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, her sister Mahina Macfarlane Souza and an anonymous 2007 graduate, filed similar lawsuits in 2020, accusing Yuen and the school of abuse, assault and negligence.
Kuehu’s lawsuit describes Yuen as a predator who assaulted her during her freshman and sophomore years, with the abuse stopping only when her mother secured a restraining order, not due to any action from the school.
In 2021 the lawsuit was settled between Punahou and the former students.
Punahou School released a statement addressing Yuen’s guilty plea, expressing gratitude to law enforcement for their efforts in the case.
“Punahou thanks law enforcement and the FBI for their dedication and professionalism in bringing this individual to justice. Our school worked closely with the FBI throughout the investigation to actively support and encourage the efforts that led to this conviction. We stand firmly with these and all survivors of abuse and remain steadfast in our commitment to foster a safe, supportive, and protective environment for every student, both within our school and across the state,” the school said Friday morning.
Yuen was arrested Feb. 2, 2023, and charged with possession of child pornography by the FBI and has been detained at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu since then.
Federal prosecutors had argued that Yuen should remain in jail before trial, calling him “a prolific and aggressive child predator.”
According to court documents, his criminal conduct spanned nearly two decades.
During this time Yuen coached middle school- and high school-age girls on private club teams and teams at various private and public schools on Oahu, including Punahou School.
“Cases involving the exploitation of minors by those they trust often span years, including because perpetrators spend time grooming their targets, who then may delay reporting the crimes for various reasons,” U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors wrote in a statement. “This case represents a concerted, persistent effort by law enforcement, advocates, and the targets themselves to seek justice and healing in the criminal system.”
Yuen’s sentencing is scheduled for April 3, after he was convicted on multiple charges related to child exploitation.
He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with a maximum possible sentence of 144 years for all 12 offenses.
Additionally, Yuen could be subject to a lifetime of supervised release, mandatory restitution to the victims and mandatory registration as a sex offender.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Perlmutter and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
