Seventeen-year-old Miti "Junior" Maugaotega Jr. was released today by Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility officials to police who will charge him as an adult with attempted murder and several other felony offenses related to the June 26 shooting of Eric Kawamoto at his Punchbowl home.

Maugaotega waived his right to a hearing on Wednesday on whether he should be tried as an adult rather than as a juvenile, and Family Court Judge Frances Wong made it official today.

Police today planned to charge Maugaotega as an adult with attempted murder, armed robbery, first-degree burglary and firearm drug offenses. He earlier was charged as a juvenile with those offenses.

Man released in assault case

A 41-year-old Kailua man arrested earlier this week on suspicion of sexually assaulting five young girls at a Honolulu church has been released pending further investigation.

The alleged sexual assaults involved girls, ages 7 and 9, and occurred from January to July. The man has been fired as an employee of the church, police said. He was booked Wednesday on seven counts of third-degree sex assault and released.

Fugitive nabbed after 6 years

Luavasa Amani Tufono, one of the U.S. Marshals Service’s 10 most wanted fugitives in the Hawai'i district, was arrested Aug. 22 in American Samoa and is being brought back to Honolulu this weekend.

Mark "Dutch" Hanohano, U.S. marshal for the Hawai'i district, which covers the Pacific basin, said Tufono has eluded capture for six years. Tufono was placed on three years’ supervised release after serving 31 months in prison for bank robbery but violated his supervised release after only one month, said Hanohano. An arrest warrant for Tufono was issued in September 1997.

Drunken-driver checkpoints set

Honolulu police will set up drunken-driver checkpoints at unannounced times and locations tonight through Labor Day.

Fifty-two people have been killed on O'ahu’s roadways this year, an increase of 11 from last year. Speed and/or alcohol have contributed to the majority of collisions.