ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

 everyone is living with it. But hey, it's only 30 years of your life!

Honolulu neighborhoods from downtown 031025

<title>🚧 Hawai‘i Scene on Social: OMG the cost of housing!</title>

In today's social media find, local comedian Tumua jokes about the joys of trying to buy a completely ordinary home at $1.1 million.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: OMG the cost of housing!

We've reported on it, everyone is living with it. But hey, it's only 30 years of your life! 

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A U.S. Marine stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i in Kāne‘ohe Bay was arrested last weekend for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old in Kailua.

Carlos David Becerraluis, 19, was arrested Saturday, April 19, on four charges of first-degree sexual assault, three of third-degree sexual assault, five of first-degree child abuse, two of promoting pornography to a minor and one of child enticement.

According to a Honolulu Police Department report, a Kailua mother informed the police earlier this month that she had found sexually explicit messages between her daughter and an unknown male on her daughter’s phone. Those messages crossed multiple messaging platforms, but began on the France-based app Wizz.

The daughter told police the male’s name was Carlos and that he was 15 years old. However, subsequent investigation of the male’s phone number identified him as Becerraluis, who Naval Criminal Investigative Service identified as a 19-year-old Marine.

According to the report, the victim told police that Becerraluis had first contacted her through Wizz, a messaging app aimed at youth between the ages of 13 and 24. Wizz touts on its website a userbase of between 4 million and 5 million users and claims that “25% of U.S. teens have downloaded Wizz.” 

According to Wizz’s website, users are organized into specific age groups — 14-year-old users can only interact with users of similar ages, for example — and new users must provide a clear photo of their faces so an AI can estimate their age for official verification.

The victim told police that she had claimed to be 14 on Wizz, but used a photograph of herself at 11 years old. Becerraluis, meanwhile, was identified on the app as being 15.

Becerraluis allegedly told the victim to download Snapchat to continue their conversation — pictures and videos sent via Snapchat automatically delete after being viewed. Following this, their conversations migrated to text messages, which were eventually obtained by Honolulu police officers.

In those messages, Becerraluis allegedly repeatedly asked the victim to meet in person, to which she eventually agreed. During their meeting in Kailua, she said, Becerraluis sexually assaulted her in his car multiple times.

Following that incident, police say, Becerraluis sent sexually explicit photographs to the victim, and encouraged her to do the same. After several exchanges, the victim stopped responding to his messages, which were eventually discovered by the victim’s mother.

First-degree sexual assault and first-degree child abuse are both Class A felonies, carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. As the charges include child sex crimes, they also carry a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and eight months.

Becerraluis appeared in court Monday for an arraignment with bail set at $1 million. He will appear next in court for a preliminary hearing on April 23.

Aloha State Daily has reached out to the Marine Corps and Wizz for comment.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: OMG the cost of housing!

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