Posted on: Thursday, December 9, 2004

Officer denies assault

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — A 27-year-old Honokowai woman and mother of two testified yesterday that a Maui policeman took her to a police substation and demanded she perform sexual acts in exchange for not arresting her following a traffic stop in July.

But the attorney for Aaron Won told a Maui Circuit Court jury that his client didn't ask for any sexual favors. He suggested that the woman, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is "street smart" and may even be cooperating with authorities in a move to gain legal resident status.

The trial in Judge Joseph Cardoza's courtroom continues today for Won, 25, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted first- and second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and attempted second-degree extortion.

In testimony through a Spanish interpreter yesterday, Rosa Rodriguez, said Won stopped her car on Lower Honoapi'ilani Road in Kahana July 28 because of an expired safety sticker and then discovered she didn't have a Hawai'i driver's license or auto insurance.

He eventually ordered Rodriguez to get into his patrol car, and he drove her to the one-room Napili police substation, where they were all alone. She said she heard Won lock the door behind him.

"I got real scared to think it was just me and him in the room," she said.

In emotional testimony, Rodriguez described how the officer motioned for her to lift her blouse. She asked him why, and he made it clear he would arrest her if she did not.

"I said, 'No, no. I cannot, no.' "

Next, he began making motions to indicate he wanted sexual favors. "I couldn't believe it," she said.

Rodriguez said she stood up and put her hands behind her back to show that she'd rather be arrested, and that's what he did. He handcuffed her and drove her back to her car.

But before he did, she said, he turned down a side street, stopped the patrol car and asked her a question: "You sure? You sure?" She said she was sure, and he took her back to the scene of the traffic stop, where he summoned other patrol officers and eventually transported her to the Lahaina police station, where she was booked for driving without a license and having an expired safety sticker and no insurance.

Maui Prosecuting Attorney Davelynn Tengan said the first time Won called police dispatch about stopping the vehicle was when they returned to the scene.

Later that day, after Rodriguez was released from custody, she told her story to an officer who speaks Spanish, launching the investigation that led to Won's arrest, Tengan said. When Won was first arrested, she said, he lied about taking Rodriguez to the substation.

Defense attorney Philip Lowenthal acknowledged that Won initially denied taking her to the substation, but that was because he knew it was a violation of department policy and he was afraid of losing his job.

Lowenthal said Won will testify that nothing happened at the Napili substation. He said he took the woman there in an effort to clear up the confusion caused in part by their inability to communicate.

Lowenthal said the case comes down to what happened at the substation and who to believe. He said that while the woman may at first seem like a sympathetic character, the jury will learn she has enough "street smarts" to obtain a phony Social Security card, get health care for her family and buy a car even though she has no driver's license, among other things.

He said she may even be using this as a ploy to get permanent resident status. A law says such status can be obtained if one cooperates with authorities in cases of this magnitude, he said.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.