Posted on: Friday, February 21, 2003

Man accused of sex assaults surrenders

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 55-year-old Washington state man suspected of sexually molesting as many as six children at a Tripler Army Medical Center housing complex in 1996 voluntarily surrendered Wednesday to Honolulu police.

Douglas Roy Duenwald was indicted in October 2001 on two counts of first-degree sexual assault and extradition was approved in April 2002. He waived extradition and surrendered to police at the Alapa'i station at 11:35 a.m. Duenwald posted $50,000 bail and yesterday pleaded not guilty to the sex assault charges.

Duenwald's wife was an Army medic in 1996 when his family, which included two young children, moved into an Army housing complex. In May 1997, Katrina Kniphfer filed suit against Duenwald in Circuit Court alleging that he molested at least five neighborhood children ranging in age from 2 to 6.

The FBI and Army Criminal Investigative Division investigated the allegations.

Duenwald's neighbors at the housing complex expressed anger in 1997 that he was allowed to move to Hawai'i without notification. Duenwald had been accused in Washington state of luring young girls to pose for explicit photographs.

Kniphfer's 1997 lawsuit alleged that Duenwald molested the children while baby-sitting. The suit said parents became suspicious after a change in the behavior of neighborhood children.