KAILUA-KONA — A Ka’u man is in custody after being indicted by a Kona grand jury for a 2017 sexual assault of a minor while serving an intermittent prison sentence for similar charges dating back to 2011.
Ryan Queja, whose last known address was Pahala, was arrested and appeared before Circuit Court Judge Robert D.S. Kim on Monday where bail was maintained at $100,000 on the latest indictment. A jury trial was scheduled for Dec. 17.
Kim set a probation revocation hearing on the 2011 case for Sept. 9.
He set bail on that case at $500,000.
Queja was indicted on two counts of first-degree sexual assault with a minor who was at least 14 years old but less than 16 at the time of the assault.
He was also charged with witness tampering for “intentionally engaging in conduct to induce a witness or a person he believed was about to be called as a witness to testify falsely or withhold any testimony,” according to the indictment.
Queja pleaded guilty in February 2011 to first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, two counts of third-degree sexual assault and third-degree attempted sexual assault. He was sentenced to 24 months incarceration to be served intermittently with a minimum of three months each year and 900 hours of community service.
Queja, a registered sex offender, was still serving his intermittent sentence for the 2011 sexual assault when he allegedly re-offended in 2017. He was released on probation for the earlier assault in December 2018.
If convicted of the latest charges, Queja faces 20 years incarceration with a mandatory minimum sentence of six years, eight months.
Queja remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
A story Tuesday on the charges said he had not been arrested for the incident as of Monday due to incorrect information provided to the newspaper.
