Former Maui warden won't fight sex charge

Advertiser Staff

WAILUKU, Maui — Former Maui Community Correctional Center warden Albert K. Murashige could face an extended 70-year prison term and $85,000 fine after pleading no contest Thursday to four charges of sexual assault of a female inmate.

As part of a plea agreement, the state said it would drop nine other charges against Murashige and seek a 10-year term when he is sentenced June 17. He remains free on $100,000 bail.

Murashige, 46, of Makawao, is the first warden in Hawai'i to be criminally charged with sexual misconduct. He worked at the Maui jail from 1980 and was appointed to the top post in 1991. He was placed on leave and quit effective Sept. 5.

A June 6 indictment charged him with eight counts of third-degree sexual assault, two counts of attempted second-degree sexual assault, and counts of first- and second-degree sexual assault and kidnapping.

According to the indictment, the offenses occurred at the correctional center on five separate days in May and June.

The indictment said Murashige inappropriately touched and groped a 44-year-old inmate, a drug offender who was in the facility for a parole violation.

Murashige pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault and second- and third-degree sexual assault.

The allegations came to light when the woman sent a letter to Maui state Rep. Kika Bukoski, R-12th (Upcountry Maui), who passed the information on to the state attorney general's office.