A Florida man accused of flying to Hawai'i and raping a 15-year-old girl has been charged with sexual assault.

Police say the girl had met the man on the Internet. Two days after the reported Sunday attack, the man was arrested at Honolulu International Airport.

Anthony Scott Waterman, 33, made an initial appearance yesterday morning in Honolulu District Court, where he was charged with 11 counts of sexual assault, said Jim Fulton, spokesman for the city prosecutor's office. Waterman faces up to 20 years on each of six counts of first-degree sexual assault and five years on each of five counts of 3rd-degree sexual assault, Fulton said.

"His bail has been set at $250,000," said Fulton. "His preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 28."

According to a sworn affidavit by Honolulu police detective Elizabeth Merrill, who is assigned to the Criminal Investigative Division's Sex Crimes Detail, the girl became acquainted with Waterman via a chat room on Yahoo.com, and the two continued their contact through cell phone calls. Waterman then flew to Hawai'i on Nov. 12 to meet the girl. One week later, last Sunday, he invited her to his rented room on Lihikai Drive in Kane'ohe, where he forced her "to have sexual intercourse with him," the affidavit said.

The victim informed her parents about the attack the same day, and the next day, Nov. 20, she and her parents participated in a forensic interview at Honolulu's Children's Justice Center, according to Merrill. That interview was the basis for the affidavit on which Waterman was charged.

Merrill said that at that interview session, the girl showed her a photo of a man on her cellular phone. She said he was the man who raped her.

The following day, Nov. 21, at around noon, a man matching that description was found at Honolulu International Airport. His Florida driver's license identified him as Anthony Scott Waterman. Police arrested him.

Fulton said Waterman was not charged under a new state law pertaining to adults attempting to lure minors into having sex through the Internet. That electronic enticement law, which carries a mandatory minimum jail sentence of one year and a maximum sentence of 10 years, doesn't apply to Waterman's case because he is charged with forcing the victim to have sex, he said.

Waterman's charges "are far more serious," said Fulton.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.