A 21-year-old Keaau man admitted in court Thursday that he forced a 14-year-old girl into multiple sexual acts last year.
In a deal with prosecutors, Race S. Wroblewski-Rushlow pleaded guilty to kidnapping, two counts a second-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree sexual assault. Acting Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto ordered him to appear for sentencing at 8 a.m. Sept. 19.
Wroblewski-Rushlow was originally charged with kidnapping, three counts of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault. If he had been convicted of first-degree sexual assault, Wroblewski-Rushlow faced a possible 20-year prison term.
The judge read the terms of the plea agreement in court. Prosecutors are free to seek a 10-year term of imprisonment with credit for time served, while Wroblewski-Rushlow is free to argue for probation and to seek a deferred acceptance of his guilty plea, which, if granted, would erase his conviction from the record. Prosecutors also agreed not to press charges in several other pending investigations.
Deputy Prosecutor Sylvia Won told Nakamoto that according to the agreement, prosecutors are free to argue all the facts and circumstances surrounding the case at sentencing.
That includes those surrounding the charges to be dropped, as well as facts and circumstances around the investigations that prosecutors have agreed not to charge.
According to court documents filed by police, the victim told police Wroblewski-Rushlow took her into a bedroom in his home at about 11 p.m. on May 14, 2016, reached into her shorts to grab her buttocks and crotch, then reached up her shirt to touch her breast. The girl reported Wroblewski-Rushlow then held her mouth and wrists with his hands and forced her to perform multiple sex acts. She allegedly cried and told Wroblewski-Rushlow to stop, but he refused. The alleged assault continued into the morning of May 15, 2016, according to documents.
A check of court records turned up no prior criminal convictions against Wroblewski-Rushlow, who remains in custody in Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $39,000 bail.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
