KEALAKEKUA — A Kapaau man charged with 25 counts of sexual assault against a girl under the age of 14 is now on supervised release, with the addition of electronic monitoring, after a court hearing on Monday.
Alexander K. M. Svendsen, 30, was indicted on the charges on May 10. He had previously been charged for the offenses on Dec. 14, but those were dismissed without prejudice in Judge Melvin Fujino’s court before the indictment.
“It was the same incident, just charged differently,” Deputy Public Defender Wendy DeWeese told Judge Ronald Ibarra, who is over the new case.
Fujino had granted supervised release at the time of the prior charges. Svendsen was on probation then for an auto theft case, and he was being held in custody since the May indictment.
DeWeese entered testimony from Svendsen’s probation officer and substance abuse counselor that the he has appeared as required and is voluntarily continuing his treatment when he was on supervised release. But one major issue was the allegation that Svendsen had driven past the victim’s home, in violation of his supervised release rules.
Svendsen said the road he used was the fastest way to get to his probation officer in Hilo. As soon as he was informed she lived on the road, he changed his route to go through Hawi or Kawaihae.
“Aren’t those two roads the more traveled roads?” asked First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dale Ross.
“Not from where I was living,” he said.
He was living with his mother, who testified he could continue to live there if allowed out on supervised release.
Ross argued that the strength of the case made a bond necessary, along with the fact he faces mandatory imprisonment, if convicted. The fact he had two deferred acceptance of a guilty pleas ongoing “indicates a continuing issue with complying with the law,” Ross said.
DeWeese argued his client is being supervised by multiple groups.
“He has many eyes on him,” he said, adding that in the two-month gap between the discharge of the previous case and the grand jury indictment Svendsen could easily have left the island.
Ibarra decided to assign Svendsen to supervised release, although adding restrictions beyond what Fujino had ordered. One of those was mandatory electronic monitoring.
Svendsen cannot leave North Kohala without the approval of the probation or pretrial services under Ibarra’s order, as the victim is now living in East Hawaii. He was also ordered to not use the street in question.
Svendsen is next due in court at 4 p.m. July 27.