A former Kauai resident who served 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a young Kauai girl in the mid-1990s was sentenced this morning to consecutive five-year terms for fondling a 7-year-old Kaneohe girl in October 2007 and failing to abide by sex offender registry requirements prior to that incident.

Circuit Judge Michael Town granted a request by Deputy City Prosecutor Thalia Murphy to sentence Anthony Mardonada to consecutive five-year terms for third-degree sexual assault and sex offender registry violations.

Mardonada pleaded guilty to the offenses last year.

Murphy argued in favor of the consecutive terms, telling the judge that Mardonada had completed the sexual assault treatment program while in prison and had undergone 48 treatment sessions with a private doctor after being released from prison, and still "reoffended ... when given the opportunity to do so" in the Kaneohe case.

Murphy said Mardonada "has a sexual preference for little girls." She said he claimed he was homeless to deliberately circumvent a requirement that convicted sex offenders continuously update their home address listed in the sex offender registry. The registry is meant to inform communities that sex offenders may be living nearby.

Mardonada told the girl's grandmother he was sent to prison for stealing auto parts, a ploy to avoid disclosing his conviction for sex offenses, Murphy said. The grandmother said she was not aware that Mardonada was a sex offender when he moved into the Kaneohe home with her and her extended family.

David Bettencourt, Mardonada's attorney, asked that he be sentenced to no more than a year in prison, five years probation and "extensive (sex offender) treatment."

Bettencourt said "the system failed" his client for not doing enough to ensure he would be able to avoid committing future sexual offenses. Money for mental health counseling is being cut "across the board" in favor of increased defense spending and to pay for trips to Washington by politicians, Bettencourt said.

Mardonada's criminal record includes a conviction for car theft, so he was not lying when he told the girl's grandmother that's why he had served time in prison, Bettencourt said.

In announcing the consecutive-term sentence, Judge Town told Mardonada he had caused "a loss of innocence for a young girl who didn't deserve it."

Town said it will be up to the Hawaii Paroling Authority to decide how much of each five-year prison term Mardonada must serve before being eligible for parole. Mardonada must complete one prison term before beginning the next.