In a deal with prosecutors that will avoid a trial and could lead to five years in prison, a former Wahiawa soccer coach and foster parent said yesterday that he would not fight charges that he sexually molested six boys over several years.

On the day his trial was set to start, Frederick Rames, 66, of Holua Way, pleaded no contest to eight counts of the least serious charges against him, third-degree sexual assault of all the victims, who were 7 to 12 years old from 2002 to 2006. The trial would have included the more serious charges of first-degree sexual assault.

Police began investigating Rames, a community activist well known in Wahiawa for his work with children, after a 7-year-old boy was diagnosed with herpes and accused Rames, his soccer coach, of sexually assaulting him. Rames was arrested last September near Ka'ala Elementary School in Wahiawa before a youth soccer practice.

Rames also operated a nonprofit corporation called Community Services Inc., as well as a tutoring program, KidsInNeed, which he said in a 2001 newspaper interview was aimed at helping some of the most impoverished elementary school children on the island.

He was also a soccer coach, a substitute teacher at Ka'ala Elementary and was licensed as a foster parent from December 2001 until his arrest.

Some neighbors and people who knew Rames from his coaching and community work have steadfastly supported him, saying they could not believe the man they knew would abuse children.

"I just don't believe it, what he did," Rames' neighbor Mitsuko Timmermans said yesterday after being told of the plea in court. "He had been a neighbor for a long time — since we moved over here in 1985. He was a good neighbor, and I just can't say anything against him. I still feel the same way as I did, and I want him to come back to the neighborhood."

Prosecutors said yesterday the plea agreement was driven in part by consideration for Rames' victims.

"One year ago, six very brave, courageous boys stepped forward to tell the truth," said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Chin.

The victims "received a lot of criticism" for speaking out about Rames, including "insinuations that they were lying," Chin said.

If the case had gone to trial, "these six boys would have to be testifying in open court" and their identities might have become known in their community, Chin said. "Their families still live in Wahiawa."

By pleading no-contest to the third-degree sex assault charges, Rames will serve five years behind bars and will be "required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life," Chin said.

'DIFFICULT' DECISION

Rames' lawyer, William Harrison, who adamantly insisted on his client's innocence since last year, called the decision to accept the plea offer "a very, very difficult one."

"It's been a long and costly case for him and his family," Harrison said of Rames.

And Rames "was also concerned about the children (in the case) and their families," and the effect the trial might have on them, Harrison said.

"There was an awful lot of pretrial publicity in the case, and we thought we did a good job of screening (jurors) for that, but it still becomes a big gamble," he said. "It was really a question of whether to throw the dice, looking at the risk that he could spend the rest of his years in jail."

The no-contest plea will be entered on Rames' record as a conviction but cannot be used against him if the victims or their families sue him.

"It allows him to protect himself from any sort of civil liability," Harrison said.

James Fulton, executive assistant to city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, said "the victims and their families were fully informed of the plea agreement and signed off on it."

He said both sides were prepared for trial, but the plea agreement "came about through last-minute discussions with the judge."

Rames had been charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, which carries a penalty of 20 years in prison, as well as 10 counts of the third-degree offense and two additional counts of witness tampering. Police said victims reported that they had been contacted by Rames after his arrest.

The third-degree sex assault charge involves inappropriate touching or fondling but not sexual penetration.

Rames will be sentenced Dec. 5 by Circuit Judge Michael Wilson. He will remain jailed until then. He has been in custody since his arrest by Honolulu police a year ago, unable to post $1 million bail.

Reaction to the plea deal was mixed yesterday in Wahiawa, where Rames lived, coached and worked as a substitute teacher. Some who knew and worked with him — and even defended him after his initial arrest — said they didn't care to comment yesterday.

But Edward and Lolita Toves, who live across the road from Rames' home, said they had known Rames since 1970. Their children had grown up with the Rames' kids, said Lolita Toves.

"Our children grew up together," she said. "You know what my daughter remembered about him? She said she never once heard him yell at his kids when they were growing up."

REACTIONS VARY

Edward Toves said he suspects Rames made the plea because he'd simply grown weary of the harassment and humiliation he's been through.

"I still don't believe he did it," he said. "I know him well, and he's a nice guy. Very friendly. He is a good neighbor. He was always helping the kids. You know, they said he (Rames) had venereal disease. But when they checked, he didn't have it. So, where'd the kid get it?"

However, Carol Yamanaka, who lived next door to Rames for nearly 40 years, said she no longer refuses to believe that the neighbor who she described as kind and always ready to lend a helping hand could do something to harm children.

"He's a nice man," she said. "His family lived here. But I didn't know he had these other ways. It's very, very sad. I worry about his grandsons — that they maybe get some kind of scar in their hearts. They were small boys, you know. I really feel sorry, you know. I hope they're strong."

Rames is divorced and has two adult children as well as grandchildren.

Derick Dahilig, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, had no comment yesterday when asked how many children Rames fostered or if the state had investigated Rames' treatment of children placed with him by the department.

"We discontinued foster child placements with Mr. Rames on Sept. 21, 2006," Dahilig said.

Rames told The Advertiser in 2001 that he used soccer as "a draw" to motivate children to study. He said many of the children he helped couldn't afford soccer league fees.

"Once I get them into soccer, that is the draw," he said in 2001. "I say, 'Fine. You can play without paying, but you've got to do the homework first.'

'SOCCER IS LEVERAGE'

"You have to have leverage. Soccer is the leverage to get them to do their homework."

Rames was first arrested in September 2006 before a youth soccer practice was about to begin near Ka'ala Elementary School. The state removed three foster children from his home shortly after.

Rames was released after posting $150,000 bail and at the time, attorney Harrison said, "He's totally innocent of these charges. There is no substance to them whatsoever, and we're going to prove that."

Harrison said at the time that one of the alleged victims, a 12-year-old boy, had been one of Rames' foster children, while the 7-year-old was a player on a soccer team coached by Rames.

In October 2006, Rames was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a total of six boys.

That same month, more than 20 Rames supporters appeared in court to support him. Many wore T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of Rames' Soccer Association for Youth.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com and Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.