'Aiea home searched in phone harassment case

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police have searched the 'Aiea Heights home of a man they say may be responsible for phoning 20 to 40 children over the past two years and directing them to perform sexual acts.

Detective Letha DeCaires, the Honolulu Police Department's CrimeStoppers coordinator, said a 51-year-old man was identified through telephone traps and call traces in connection with obscene calls placed to an 11-year-old Kapolei girl and a boy, 14, who is a military dependent, in January and February.

The traps and traces were conducted with the help of Verizon's security nuisance phone call center, said DeCaires.

Police did not arrest the man, but said they will forward cases involving 20 to 40 victims of misdemeanor harassment to prosecutors.

The suspect may be connected to cases dating back to the mid-1980s, but the statute of limitations has passed on those and police are concentrating on reported offenses going back only two years, DeCaires said.

The cases involve a man identifying himself as a doctor. He then directs children to perform physical exams on themselves or other children while on the telephone. "There's always a penalty if they don't do it," DeCaires said of the calls. "The penalty might be that they will be kicked out of school."

The man, however, is not believed to be the "Dr. Young" who has been placing similar calls for several years to children in the Chinatown and Salt Lake areas. Unlike in the case of "Dr. Young," police say they do not believe the 'Aiea man has tried to meet victims directly.