Seleena E. Kumia was in custody in the Oahu State Circuit Court cellblock on Punchbowl Street for a probation violation in June 2014 when she said a state sheriff’s deputy groped her after having her strip down to her underwear.
Kumia, 35, is suing the state Department of Public Safety, now-former sheriff’s deputy Freddie Carabbacan and another deputy who she says was present. Her lawyers filed a civil lawsuit against the department, Carabbacan and the other deputy in state court earlier this month.
She said she immediately filed a complaint with the department and reported the incident to Honolulu
police.
Kumia did not tell police that she had been molested. She said she was instructed to strip down to her underwear to be searched when she was taken back into custody after going to an appointment in street clothes.
She said in her police report that Carabbacan, “felt under my bra then grabbed the elastic part in the middle of my bra and pulled it forward, then walked around.” She said two male deputies watched her strip and that a male inmate saw her in her underwear through the cell’s open door.
Honolulu police did not forward the case for prosecution.
Kumia is not the first woman to accuse Carabbacan of molesting her in the circuit court’s cellblock.
Elizabeth A. Mueller, 50, said Carabbacan had her strip down to her underwear and groped her in July 2014. Mueller sued Carabbacan and the state DPS last
October.
Both women say DPS confirmed their sexual assault complaints against Carabbacan after the three-year statute of limitations expired for prosecuting him for third-degree sexual assault. They also said DPS told them that corrective action has been taken.
The department said as of June 30 last year Carabbacan was no longer a DPS
employee. A department spokeswoman declined
further comment because
of the pending lawsuits.
Carabbacan could not be reached for comment.
Mueller’s lawyers, who also represent Kumia, told the court in January that they were unable to locate Carabbacan to serve him with the lawsuit.
