LIHUE — A Kauai man was sentenced Thursday to five years in jail for possession of child pornography.
Ruben Kamanawa Santos, 54, formerly of Kapaa, was initially charged with nine felonies for allegedly molesting and taking nude pictures of a young boy who was then either 13 or 14 years old. Court documents only list his year of birth.
Eight of the nine counts were Class A felonies, one for each photo police found on his phone, apparently taken while the boy was sleeping. The remaining charge was third-degree sexual assault, a Class C felony.
Police executed a search warrant on Santos’s phone and recovered the images after an acquaintance discovered them.
Santos pleaded no contest in February to a single, third-degree count of promoting child abuse and was sentenced to the maximum five years in prison and given credit for time already served. He has been in custody since his arrest in November 2017, leaving him with about three-and-a-half years jail time remaining.
The judge chose not to add a monetary fine to the sentence beyond $205 in fees — Class C felonies carry a maximum $10,000 penalty in addition to jail time — but Santos agreed to pay the victim restitution in an amount to be determined later by the state probation services office.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender, and have no contact with the victim.
“We are satisfied that this individual will be spending a substantial amount of time in prison and no longer be in a position to exploit the children of this community,” said Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar.
Source: The Garden Island
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