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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, March 20, 2008

'Horrible and disturbing'

By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Security guard Danny F. Friddle began molesting his infant daughter virtually from the day she was born, recording the sexual assaults on videotape, according to a 14-count indictment returned yesterday by the O'ahu grand jury.

First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Chin called the allegations against Friddle, 30, "horrible and disturbing."

Circuit Judge Derrick Chan ordered Friddle held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police arrested Friddle last week after a woman found a backpack containing the videotape of the assaults at a Kalihi bus stop and turned it over to police.

Friddle's identity card for Alii Security was also found in the backpack and his ex-wife later identified him as the man on the tape, according to police reports.

The indictment alleges that Friddle subjected the infant victim to a series of sexual assaults from June 26, 2006 to September 30, 2006.

According to divorce records, Friddle's daughter was born June 26, 2006.

He is identified in the indictment as the "parent or guardian" of the victim.

A second series of assaults recorded on the videotape occurred between Oct. 1, 2006 and March 2, 2008, according to the indictment.

Friddle came to Hawai'i while in the Army in 2003. He was married here in December 2005 and was divorced last September. After leaving the military, he worked as a used car salesman and as a security guard, according to court records.

He is charged with eight counts of first degree sexual assault of a victim under 14 years of age and three counts of third-degree sex assault.

The indictment also charges three counts of first-degree promotion of child abuse because of Friddle's alleged videotaping of the assaults.

"It's one thing to rape a child," prosecutor Chin said after the indictment was returned. "It's an entirely different thing to film it."

Chin declined to discuss the evidence against Friddle but said that "the child is safe."

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.