A Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructor at Waimea High School was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a former cadet.

Victor Aguilar, a 65- year-old Kalaheo resident, foster parent and former Army major, was employed at Waimea High School in 1995 as an athletics coach and served as a JROTC instructor until he resigned Feb. 11, 2021, amid allegations that he engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a student in the JROTC program on five separate occasions, including in the classroom, his home and his personal vehicle.

On at least two occasions Aguilar filmed the encounters with his Samsung Galaxy S10 mobile phone.

Aguilar pleaded guilty May 11 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake sentenced Aguilar to 10 years of federal probation and ordered him to pay $5,980 in restitution, a $10,000 assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act and a $200 special assessment.

“The Court’s sentence reflects both the severity and tragedy of Mr. Aguilar’s crime of child sexual exploitation,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “As the Department of Justice increasingly focuses on the plight of victims — especially minors like Mr. Aguilar’s victim — our office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prosecute perpetrators of these heinous acts and protect victims as they move through the criminal justice system on a path towards healing.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Smith, who prosecuted the case, in an Oct. 13 sentencing memorandum told Otake he agreed “with the Probation Office that a sentence of 168 months’ imprisonment is the appropriate sentence in this case.”

“Victor Aguilar was a JROTC instructor — a position that made him an important figure in the lives of the children under his care — and he betrayed that position by sexually exploiting one of his students,” wrote Smith. “The nature and circumstances of Aguilar’s criminal conduct weigh heavily in favor of a substantial sentence.”

Kauai Police Chief Todd Raybuck told the Star-­Advertiser in a statement that the trust of the teacher-student relationship must “always remain at the highest level of respect and integrity and can not be compromised, therefore anyone who violates their authority and trust must be held accountable.”

“The Kauai Police Department is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our community especially safeguarding our children and we will continue to work with all stakeholders to facilitate prevention/education and enforcement if necessary to accomplish this,” he said.

Aguilar’s misconduct was brought to the attention of the state Department of Education not by the victim, but another former cadet, who on Jan. 29, 2021, reported that Aguilar touched her legs in a way that made her uncomfortable. The former student also told the DOE that while she put together a graduation slide show on Aguilar’s school-issued laptop, she found folders and subfolders labeled with 61 current and former JROTC students’ names, including her own. They contained photos dated to at least 2009, according to court records.

The pictures were of the students in bikinis and beachwear, including a folder of the student putting together the graduation slide show, according to federal court documents. The former student told the DOE she knew of other former and current students who told her Aguilar had touched their legs, thighs or buttocks.

On Feb. 2, 2021, the DOE division responsible for fielding and investigating allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment told Aguilar he was under investigation and confiscated a computer, hard drive and other DOE- and U.S. Department of Defense­-issued equipment.

On the laptop, in a folder labeled “alumni,” DOE investigators found “pictures of female students, most of whom were wearing bikinis or beachwear. A large variety of pictures and videos, mostly of females either in swimwear, nude, or partially nude, were also found,” according to the criminal complaint.

The DOE called the Kauai Police Department and initiated an investigation while Aguilar was placed on leave and eventually resigned. The next day, Aguilar “exchanged text messages with a former JROTC student, the minor victim.”

Aguilar wrote to the victim, in substance and in part, “that he did not have a job because of some ‘touching’ that had occurred between him and former students,” according to federal court documents. The victim told investigators that Aguilar had used his mobile phone to record the incidents.

Homeland Security investigators who reviewed the contents of Aguilar’s laptops also noted two videos that included the minor victim. In one of the clips, Aguilar is heard directing the victim as he produces the video of private parts, according to court documents.

At one point in a video, the victim asks, “Do I have to be in this position?” Aguilar told her, “Hopefully, my video is getting us something. Can you feel it?”

When Aguilar left Waimea High School, Principal Mahina Anguay sent a letter to parents and guardians informing them that “a faculty member has been placed on leave for alleged misconduct involving a Waimea High School student,” according to a copy of the Feb. 16, 2021, letter obtained by the Star-Advertiser. “These allegations are crushing to our school given that we work tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of all our students. We will not tolerate any behavior that places any student or faculty member in harm’s way,” wrote Anguay.

On March 12, 2021, Aguilar was charged in state court by the Kauai prosecuting attorney with five counts of second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony, and his bail was set at $1 million.