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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, April 14, 2006

Convict takes shortcut to lockup

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 38-year-old man who admitted terrorizing a Kane'ohe neighborhood was ordered out of a drug-treatment facility and sent to jail because of threats that authorities said he made at the facility.

Back in February, David Domingues pleaded guilty to two counts of felony terroristic threatening and was to be sentenced May 15. He faced a maximum five years in prison on each count.

But rather than sending Domingues to the O'ahu Community Correctional Center at that time to await sentencing, Circuit Judge Steve Alm set aside Domingues' $2 million bail and placed him on supervised release.

Domingues was placed in the Sand Island Treatment Center as part of his supervised release. But on Monday, officials at the center notified city prosecutors that Domingues had violated program rules "due to threats of bodily injury he made towards other residents within the program," according to court documents.

The center recommended that Domingues be removed from the facility and returned to state custody. The center said it would allow Domingues to return at a later date.

Yesterday, Deputy Prosecutor Clinton Piper asked Alm to revoke Domingues' supervised release and send him back to jail.

Alm agreed and ordered Domingues to 90 days at OCCC and rescheduled the sentencing for July 10. Alm also warned Domingues that if he doesn't change his ways, the judge would have no choice but to send Domingues to prison.

"I think 90 days in jail right now is something that would be appropriate to bring it home to you that all your actions have consequences," Alm said. "What I would do is use your time at OCCC between now and July to decide: Are you really going to follow all the rules at Sand Island, are you really serious about it, or am I wasting my time sending you there? If you get into trouble between now and July at OCCC, you can imagine how I'm going to be viewing that."

Randy Oyama, Domingues' attorney, did not object to sending him to OCCC. He said the Sand Island facility is willing to take his client back, and that's a good sign.

"Sand Island is a good program, and they did this for a reason. They said he needed a timeout, and that's what happened here," Oyama said after the hearing. "He wants to comply with the program, and he wants to make it through the program, so he had no objection to that."

Domingues had been charged with terrorizing his 'Ahuimanu neighbors over 10 years. The neighbors decided to fight back, and six families sought restraining orders against Domingues.

Last October, Domingues was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury on two counts of terroristic threatening, and his bail was set at an unusually high $2 million because a state judge said Domingues was a threat to the community.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.