Honolulu police have arrested five children 12 years or younger on suspicion of felony offenses committed at O'ahu schools since April 24. The cases include allegations of second-degree assault, third-degree sex assault and first-degree terroristic threatening.

The most recent case involves a 9-year-old boy, arrested yesterdayon suspicion of punching a teacher on May 9 at a Kalihi school. The child was booked and later released.

Senior Family Court Judge Frances Q.F. Wong said Hawai'i law generally prevents children under 12 from being charged. However, a petition can be filed claiming or alleging a violation and requesting the child be placed under court supervision, Wong said.

Other cases since April 24 include an 8-year-old boy booked on suspicion of kidnapping and third-degree sex assault; a 12-year-old girl arrested on suspicion of threatening a classmate with a knife; a 12-year-old boy accused of threatening to kill a teacher; and another youth, 12, arrested on suspicion of fondling a classmate.

All those arrested were released pending further investigation.

Arson cited in Waipahu fire

A fire today that gutted a Waipahu home at 94-125 Pahu St. was deliberately set, said Honolulu fire investigator Capt. Glenn Solem.

No injuries were reported from the 12:51 a.m. fire. Damage estimates were not available.

Boy hit by truck in critical condition

A 9-year-old Kaua'i boy suffered critical injuries yesterday when he was struck by a pickup truck in front of his Wailua Homestead residence.

Kaua'i police said the boy rode his bicycle down a driveway and into the path of a Nissan pickup truck on Kolupua Street at 6:20 p.m. He was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital and later to The Queen's Medical Center on O'ahu.

Fraud suspect under arrest

Ronald Ken Dufrene, being sought on a $20,000 bench warrant in connection with a rental scam investigation involving a Hawai'i Kai home, is being held after his arrest last week in San Diego.

The arrest warrant for Dufrene, 30, who also goes by the names David Aaron Taub, Allan Terence Hamlin and Jeff Lansford, was issued Jan. 28.

He is wanted on Maui on suspicion of identity theft, theft, burglary, forgery and auto theft. Honolulu police have identified Dufrene as a suspect in a scam in which he allegedly represented himself as an agent for real estate companies and accepted unauthorized cash down payments for Hawai'i Kai rentals.