A repeat sexual offender was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for sexually assaulting an underage girl.
Jayson Gene Alatan pleaded no contest on Dec. 7 to four counts of first-degree sexual assault and three counts of third-degree sexual assault. In return for the 49-year-old Hilo man’s plea, prosecutors dropped charges of kidnapping, continuous sexual assault of a minor younger than 14, promoting pornography to a minor, failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements, six counts of first-degree sexual assault, and two counts of third-degree sexual assault.
According to the indictment, the sex assault-related offenses occurred between Nov. 26, 2015, and Feb. 7, 2016. Alatan failed to register as a sex offender on Sept. 14, 2016.
Deputy Prosecutor Sylvia Wan argued for the 20-year prison term, saying Alatan abused the girl’s trust.
“She was only 11 at the time that he hurt her, and he used her age and her vulnerability against her,” Wan said. “… Once she was alone with him, he did what he wanted with her.”
Wan said Alatan admitted to sexual contact with the girl, but “it does not appear that he has actually taken any fault with what he had done.”
“His actions were clearly his own,” Wan said. “And it was made worse by the fact that he was previously convicted for very similar actions for another child who was under the age of (consent).
“He was violating his probation just by having contact with her. And he took that contact to the extreme,” Wan said. “And the moment that he knew he was found out, he fled. He fled from his home. He fled from his job. And he fled from his probation officer.”
A warrant for Alatan’s arrest and revocation of his probation on a 2011 sexual assault conviction was issued April 11, 2016.
It was more than a year later, May 10, 2017, when Alatan was taken into custody at the Hilo Walmart.
His probation was revoked, and he was also re-sentenced Monday to 10 years imprisonment on the 2011 conviction, to run concurrently with the 2017 case.
Stanton Oshiro, Alatan’s court-appointed defense counsel, asked the judge to “simply abide by the plea agreement.”
Asked if he wanted to address the court, Alatan replied, “I just want to say I’m sorry, and I want to do what I have to do.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
