An Oahu youth basketball coach has pleaded guilty to child sex crimes

A former youth basketball coach has been sentenced after pleading guilty to 12 child sex offenses that could see him spend the rest of his life in prison.

Dwayne Ewan, a 51-year-old Honolulu resident and former Punahou high school basketball coach, pleaded guilty Thursday before Senior U.S. District Judge J. by Michael Seabright.

Yuen pleaded guilty to all 12 counts, which collectively charged him with crimes related to child exploitation and molestation.

The crimes involved three minor victims, Yuen pleaded guilty to sex trafficking minor victim 1 in 2005 and 2006; forcing and seducing a minor victim 2 to commit sexual acts in 2006; and producing, receiving and possessing child pornography involving a Minor Victim 3 between 2020 and 2023.

He also admitted that from 2021 to 2023 he harassed the victims, identified as Victims 4 to 10, through anonymous and obscene messages.

The victims were players on the basketball team that Ewen coached, with victims 4 through 9 being about 18 years old at the time of the harassment and victim 10 being 17 years old.

In 2020, Shona-Lei Kuehu, a Punahou high school basketball champion, sued Yuen — her former coach — and the school, accusing them of sexual assault and battery.

Kuehu, a 2008 graduate, was among several women who accused Yuen of sexual assault while at Punahou, claiming the school did nothing to prevent it.

Other plaintiffs, including mixed martial arts champion Ilima-Leigh McFarlane, her sister Mahina McFarlane Souza and an anonymous 2007 graduate, filed similar lawsuits in 2020, accusing Ewen and the school of abuse, assault and negligence.

The lawsuit describes Kuehu Yuen as a predator who assaulted her during her freshman and sophomore years, with the abuse only stopping when her mother obtained a restraining order, not because of any action by the school.

In 2021, a lawsuit between Punahou and former students was settled.

Punahou School released a statement acknowledging Ewan’s guilty plea, thanking law enforcement for their efforts in the case.

“Punahou thanks law enforcement and the FBI for their dedication and professionalism in bringing this individual to justice. Our school worked closely with the FBI throughout the investigation to actively support and encourage the efforts that led to this conviction. We strongly support these and all survivors of abuse and remain steadfast in our commitment to creating a safe, supportive and secure environment for every student, both at our school and across the state,” the school said in a statement. Saturday morning.

Yuen was arrested on February 2, 2023 and charged with possession of child pornography by the FBI and has been in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu since then.

Federal prosecutors argued that Yuen should remain in jail pending trial, calling him a “prolific and aggressive child predator.”

According to court documents, his criminal activities spanned nearly two decades.

During this time, Ewen coached middle and high school girls on private club teams and teams at various private and public schools on the island of Oahu, including Punahou School.

“Cases involving the exploitation of minors by those they trust often drag on for years, including because the perpetrators spend time grooming their targets, who may then delay reporting the crimes for a variety of reasons,” she wrote in statements by US Attorney Claire E. Connors. “This case is the result of a concerted, persistent effort by law enforcement, human rights defenders and the facilities themselves to seek justice and healing in the criminal system.”

Yuen is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3 after being convicted of multiple child exploitation charges.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison with a maximum possible sentence of 144 years for all 12 counts.

In addition, Yuen could be subject to a lifetime of supervised release, mandatory restitution to victims and mandatory registration as a sex offender.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Perlmutter and District Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division.