Prosecutors will seek the maximum 10-year prison term for a 27-year-old Honokaa man arrested for a series of domestic abuse incidents that took place between February and April.
Adam Kahekili Kepoo pleaded no contest Wednesday to seven felony charges including three counts of second-degree assault, two counts of domestic abuse aggravated by strangulation, and one count each of kidnapping and terroristic threatening, according to Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen.
In exchange for Kepoo’s plea, 20 additional charges, including first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree sexual assault, were dropped.
Kepoo will be sentenced Dec. 17 before Kona Circuit Court Judge Wendy DeWeese in Kailua-Kona.
Police say when Kepoo was apprehended in Kawaihae, the victim, a woman, had been held captive more than two weeks, though the alleged offenses reportedly took place between Feb. 1 and April 23 across the South Kohala and Hamakua districts.
According to a May indictment in the case, Kepoo allegedly stole the woman’s passport and phone, restrained her with intent to inflict bodily harm, struck her in the face multiple times in multiple locations, threw rocks at her, tackled her to the ground, twice held a knife to her throat and choked her both with his hands and with a ligature.
The indictment also alleges, Kepoo extinguished a lit cigarette on the woman’s arm, dragged her into the woods, bit her, struck her while she was sleeping, pinned her neck to the bed with his knee, heated a knife over a grill and asked her where she wanted her new brand, cut her chest with a knife, headbutted her and twice sexually assaulted her.
Kepoo was arrested April 23 by Hawaii Police Department officers conducting patrols at Kawaihae Boat Harbor. There, officers contacted two occupants of a parked vehicle parked near the exit gate. The woman driving the vehicle, reported being involved in a domestic incident with the man riding in her vehicle, identified as Kepoo.
Kepoo remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $300,500 bail.
