WAILUKU - State Rep. Joe Bertram III urged leniency Wednesday for a Makawao man who was sentenced for using the Internet to arrange sexual contact with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, saying the defendant shouldn't be sent to prison for an "imaginary crime." ...

(The convicted molester) was originally charged with first-degree electronic enticement of a child after being arrested Nov. 24, 2007, when he went to Maui Mall in Kahului to meet a girl, who actually was an undercover police detective.

Marcantonio arranged the meeting after numerous contacts, including e-mails, a telephone call and a sexual demonstration through a Webcam, police said.

"In his conversations, he talked rather explicitly about the sexual acts he wants to commit with her," said Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Martin. "He acknowledges that what he's doing and what he wants to do is wrong because of her age. But he also acknowledges that that seems to be part of the excitement for him."

Martin said the crime was far from "imaginary."

"He showed up at the Maui Mall that day," Martin said. "To him, this was not imaginary. This was real."

In an October 2007 online chat, Marcantonio talked about how "he had done this before" with a 15-year-old Oahu girl, Martin said.

He recommended a five-year prison term for Marcantonio, who had pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree electronic enticement of a child.

RELATED: Hawaii Legislators Consider Becoming Dope Dealers( Feb, 2008) , Joe Bertram in court to support alleged drug dealer (Maui News Nov, 2009)

GOP candidate George Fontaine responds: Yes we cannabis? No, Mr. Representative, Hawaii and Maui can’t afford pot shops

read more