A 21-year-old Waimanalo man is accused of beating and sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents this year after picking them up near Chinatown and driving them to Kailua.

John Veikoso was charged Sunday with four counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, and two counts of kidnapping. His bail was set at $2 million. He made his initial court appearance yesterday.

Veikoso is accused of picking up the two women in the early hours of Jan. 18 and Feb. 7, driving them to Kailua, and beating them before sexually assaulting them.

The victim of the alleged January assault described herself as a prostitute, while the second woman said she accepted a ride from Veikoso about 4 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Pali Longs Drugs Store while she waited for her boyfriend.

In the Jan. 18 case, a 23-year-old woman told police she was working as a prostitute at Pali Highway and South Kuakini Street when she was approached by a man in a pickup truck. They agreed to have sex for $200 and the woman got into the truck, according to a police affidavit.

The driver, identified in the affidavit as Veikoso, drove north on Nu'uanu and told the woman that his mother was a "hooker" and that his passenger "won't be doing this again," the affidavit said. The woman said Veikoso punched her several times as the truck speeded on Pali Highway.

As she was being assaulted, the affidavit said, she was either pushed or she fell out of the truck's window and suffered a broken collarbone and other injuries. The woman tried to flag down passing motorists, but she said Veikoso grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back to his vehicle.

He continued to beat her until they wound up at Maunawili Elementary School, where Veikoso sexually assaulted the woman, the affidavit said.

The woman said her assailant's attitude changed after the assault and that he offered to take her to Castle Medical Center. The woman told him that she wanted to go to Tripler Army Medical Center and Veikoso complied, the affidavit said.

The woman was beaten so badly that she was semi-conscious and unable to make a police statement until six days after the incident.

In the Feb. 7 case, a 19-year-old woman told police she was waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up at the Longs store when a man, again identified in court documents as Veikoso, asked her if she "wanted to cruise for a while." The woman got into a Ford Mustang with him and they drove off.

As they headed north on Pali Highway, the car began to swerve and the woman offered to drive because she said she was sober. But police said Veikoso struck the back of her head several times and told her to "shut up."

He drove to Maunawili Elementary, pulled the woman out of the car and ordered her to perform a sexual act on him, the affidavit said. He grabbed her neck, saying, "If you want to go home tonight, you better cooperate and do what I say."

Later, the affidavit said, Veikoso told her that she could leave and that she was "lucky because I usually don't let people leave."

The woman managed to flag down a motorist who took her to a nearby convenience store. She asked the man if he would go back to the school and get her cell phone from the man who sexually assaulted her, and he agreed.

When he got to the school, the Mustang was still in the lot and the man wrote down the license plate number and gave it to the woman. Police were notified and Veikoso arrested at 6:20 a.m. Saturday at his home on Flamingo Street in Waimanalo.

While in custody, Veikoso was booked in connection with the January assault after that victim identified him in a photo lineup, police said.