Man pleads guilty in Internet sex case

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 30-year-old Kalihi man faces a maximum prison term of 15 years and a fine of up to $250,000 after pleading guilty in federal court yesterday to charges that he brought a 14-year-old girl to Hawai'i with the intention of having sex with her.

Lando Millare, who worked as an assistant at the Kane'ohe Public Library, told U.S. Judge Susan Mollway that he struck up a relationship with the Medford, Ore., girl on the Internet and worked with her to trick the girl's parents into thinking she was invited to Hawai'i to stay at the home of another girl.

Millare said he sent the girl a round-trip airplane ticket, traveled to meet her in Los Angeles and escorted her back to Honolulu on June 19. He said he passed himself off as a 17-year-old boy, that he believed the girl was only 14 and that she appeared to be that age.

He said he lived with his grandparents and had asked their permission earlier to have a friend come and stay with him. Millare said police arrived at the house about a half hour after he got there with the girl and that "nothing happened" between him and the girl.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said that because Millare agreed to plead guilty to a charge of engaging in interstate travel with the intent to have sex with a minor, he will not be prosecuted on a charge of possession of child pornography for material investigators allegedly found when they examined the computer Millare used to correspond with the girl.

Mollway set a sentencing date of March 4.