LIHUE — A Kaumakani man convicted of possessing child pornography was sentenced to a year in jail and felony probation on Wednesday in 5th Circuit Court. Zoren Estavillo Mariano, 20, was placed in a five-year term with HOPE (Hawaii’s Opportunity
LIHUE — A Kaumakani man convicted of possessing child pornography was sentenced to a year in jail and felony probation on Wednesday in 5th Circuit Court.
Zoren Estavillo Mariano, 20, was placed in a five-year term with HOPE (Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement) which offers close supervision of high-risk offenders. He will spend a year in jail before starting probation.
“I apologize for my negative decisions and I know that what I did was wrong,” said Mariano in his statement to the court.
Mariano was arrested on Dec. 17, 2013, on 10 counts of promoting child abuse. An investigation of various electronic media and data storage devices prompted the prosecution to charge Mariano with 13 second-degree and 13 third-degree counts of promoting child abuse.
He entered a no-contest change of plea to six counts of third-degree promoting child abuse on May 12.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Arin said Mariano had placed several images of child pornography on his own electronic storage devices and in his personal online accounts.
Arin asked for the 364 days in jail with felony probation. The one day short of a year is to help avoid an automatic trigger for deportation proceedings.
Judge Kathleen Watanabe said there is no guarantee that the federal government would not initiate deportation proceedings. The sentence just avoided an automatic trigger. Mariano, was present with ilocano interpreter Felipa-Felina Garduque. To where he could be deported wasn’t discussed in court and Arin declined to comment on it.
State Deputy Public Defender John Calma, said the defendant first received an Instagram photo that included minors and it was uploaded to his own private social media accounts. Calms disagreed that possessing the materials was promotional, when the defendant did not make them accessible to others and did not disseminate the photos. Calma asked for probation and less than a year in jail.
“My client is a very gentle man,” Calma said. “He is respected by his coworkers and has a strong and supportive family network.”
Arin said the possession of child pornography in and of itself is promoting, as it furthers sexual interest toward children which is harmful to kids and is criminal behavior, she said.
The defendant was cooperative with the investigation and provided access to his laptop, iPad and phone even where there wasn’t a search warrant involved, she said, adding the defendant needs serious consequences to ensure he doesn’t offend again.
