WAILUKU - A Lahaina man is serving a 30-day jail term after pleading no contest to reduced charges in connection with the sexual assault of a girl.
Buenaventura Adovas, 39, also was ordered to complete sex offender treatment and was placed on one year's probation at his April 10 sentencing.
Deputy Prosecutor Iwalani Mountcastle said "life drastically changed" for the 12-year-old girl after Christmas Day in 2009 when Adovas first sexually touched her. That day, the girl, who knew Adovas through a family member, had been cruising with him in Kapalua and became dizzy, Mountcastle said. She said he was massaging the girl's head when "his hands migrated down" to sexually touch her.
"She immediately felt scared and told the defendant to leave," Mountcastle said at the April 10 hearing.
Several months later, in September 2010, Adovas again inappropriately touched the girl while on a futon, Mountcastle said.
She said the girl was hospitalized twice after being traumatized by what happened and has missed school.
With the girl unable to attend the sentencing hearing, Mountcastle read a letter from her. Addressing Adovas, the girl wrote: "You've stolen my happiness, youth and freedom . . . I had to experience things that no one should. I go to sleep making sure my blanket covers me so no one can touch me."
Her father, speaking in court, said what Adovas did "ruined her life."
The father said that he hoped Adovas would be sent back to the Philippines.
Originally charged with two counts of third-degree sexual assault, Adovas had pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault.
Mountcastle argued for a six-month jail term for Adovas, and defense attorney Ben Lowenthal asked for no jail. Lowenthal said Adovas has no prior criminal record.
"He is a hardworking person," Lowenthal said. "If he is put in jail for a long period of time, he will lose his jobs."
Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza ordered that Adovas have no contact with the victim. A restitution hearing was set for May 24.
In other sentencings April 10:
* A 29-year-old Kahului man was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution and a $1,000 fine for a Dec. 9 assault on another man in Kahului.
Michael Ubando, who had been charged with second-degree assault, pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct.
He was arrested after the 51-year-old victim went to collect a $70 debt from Ubando, who was sleeping in a company van parked fronting his employer's residence on Holua Drive in Kahului. The two argued, and Ubando hit the man on the head with a beer bottle, police said. The man suffered a 1-inch laceration on his cheek and a cut on his ear.
Ubando asked for three months to pay the restitution and fine.
* A 48-year-old Kahului man was placed on five years' probation and ordered to pay $52,680 in restitution for the theft of jewelry from a Haiku residence where he had been working.
Steven Jakubczak also was ordered to write a letter apologizing to the victim and her family.
Cardoza said the woman liked and trusted Jakubczak. "Having you do this to her was devastating to her because she held you in such high regard," the judge said. "She still liked you, even though she was victimized in this fashion."
Jakubczak had pleaded no contest to second-degree burglary and second-degree theft.
According to information filed in the case, the theft occurred March 26, 2010, when the woman hired Jakubczak and another man to do maintenance work for the day. A few days later, Jakubczak returned to the property and told the woman that the other worker had confessed to stealing a safe from her house. Later the same day, he returned the safe and some of the jewelry. He asked the woman not to call police, saying he would try to get back the rest of the jewelry.
She reported the theft several months later after being unable to reach Jakubczak.
He told police that the other man, identified in court documents as Leighton Kanae, had asked to use the restroom in the house. When they were leaving, Kanae brought out the safe that was already open and gave Jakubczak a pouch containing some jewelry, according to court documents.
Jakubczak pawned some of the jewelry in Wailuku.
Police reported being unable to locate Kanae.
Deputy Public Defender Adriel Menor said Jakubczak "put himself in the stream of this criminal event and he ended up doing something wrong."
A war veteran with many commendations, Jakubczak took responsibility for his actions, Menor said, while Kanae still had not been apprehended.
