Man starts 20-year term for sex assault

The operator of a portable toilet rental company in Nanakuli began serving a mandatory 20-year prison term yesterday for sexually assaulting a teenage boy who cleaned toilets for him.

A state judge sentenced Henry Moisa, 58, to the mandatory prison term for first-degree sexual assault and denied Moisa’s request to remain free on $250,000 bail pending his appeal.

A state jury found Moisa, who operates A’s Party Portables, guilty of three counts of first-degree sexual assault for performing oral sex on the boy starting in 2007, when the boy was 14 years old, and in 2008.

The boy told a friend that Moisa paid him $1.25 for every toilet he cleaned and $5 each time he let Moisa perform oral sex on him.

State law prohibits sex involving minors under 16 with persons who are at least five years older and not married to the minor.

Coming up

High school students will be removing trash and graffiti along Pali Highway from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The onramp northbound from Pauoa Road will be closed during this time, and there will be intermittent right-lane closures northbound between South Kuakini and Wyllie streets.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Officials form furlough days help group

A group of Kauai County administrators plans to continue doing public service on furlough days, teaming up for volunteer community projects.

Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and his appointees have formed the "Furlough Friday Force" to help with school-based and community projects on Fridays between Aug. 27 and June 24.

School-based projects will be given top priority. Community-based projects that have the greatest effect on residents will also be high on the list. Officials will offer help with projects such as beach cleanups and staffing a school science fair, county spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said.

Those interested in the help can obtain applications online at www.kauai.gov. Forms are also available at the mayor’s office in Suite 235 of the Moikeha Building. For more information, call 241-4900.

Lawyer gets nod for Maui judgeship

Chief Justice Ronald Moon has appointed Blaine Kobayashi to a six-year term as a Maui District Court judge.

Kobayashi, a partner of the Carlsmith Ball law firm on Maui, was a deputy corporation counsel on Maui and a deputy county attorney and deputy prosecutor on Kauai.

Moon selected Kobayashi from a list of candidates from the Judicial Selection Commission.

Kobayashi’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

He would fill the vacancy left by the expiration of District Judge Simone Polak’s term.