MEDIA RELEASE

Faavae Tuinei

Big island police charged a Hilo man Monday (April 2) in connection with two incidents from Saturday night (March 31).

Thirty-five-year-old Faavae E. Tuinei was arrested after South Hilo patrol officers took two separate reports of a man using a cellular phone to record females in public bathrooms.

Tuinei reportedly went into a women’s public bathroom in Hilo and used a cellular phone in a bathroom stall to record a 24-year-old woman using the bathroom in the next stall. When witnesses confronted him, he left the area on foot.

Less than an hour later, Tuinei was allegedly observed using a cellular phone in an adjacent stall to record a 13-year-old girl using a public bathroom in the Panaʻewa area. A relative of the victim detained him until police arrived.

Tuinei was arrested and held at the Hilo police cellblock while detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigations Section continued the investigation. On Monday night, they charged him with two counts of first-degree violation of privacy. He remained in the cellblock in lieu of $20,000 bail until his initial court appearance in South Hilo District Court on Tuesday afternoon (April 3).