LIHUE — A Kapaa man got a week in jail Tuesday for indecent exposure.
Tony Silva, 60, was charged with the crime in April after his neighbor, Pam Woolway, got tired of looking at his genitals while walking her dog down Kapahi Road and decided to do something about it.
Woolway said her problems with Silva started in 2010. According to Woolway, Silva flashed her as she walked by his home but denied it when she called the police, who didn’t have any supporting evidence and no legal justification for making an arrest.
‘They told me it was his word against mine,” she said. “So then I just stopped walking my dog down his street.”
Years passed, and Woolway simply stayed away from Silva’s house, until one morning in March, when she set out for a walk with her dog and figured it might be early enough to avoid him. She was wrong.
“He did it again,” she said. “Only this time it was much more visible.”
According to Woolway, she looked up to find Silva standing in the doorway of his garage, completely naked and touching himself. She was fed up.
“I’m like, there’s no way I’m the only one,” she said. “This has got to be happening to someone else.”
Knowing the police couldn’t do anything without corroborating evidence, Woolway said she went around her neighborhood knocking on doors until she found someone who told her she had heard a lot of stories from other women with similar experiences.
Woolway she wrote a letter to The Garden Island, explaining the problem in hopes of drawing attention to Silva’s behavior. Her editorial caught on and got passed around online. Before she knew it she was in touch with 10 or 12 other women telling her they had been similarly harassed by Silva.
Then, Woolway said, she got a call from county Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar, who said that if she and some of Silva’s other victims could submit letters of testimony there might be enough evidence to pursue criminal charges.
According to Woolway, most of the women had moved away — she said some of their stories about Silva dated back two decades — but she and a handful of others were still on the island. Their statements provided the basis for a criminal complaint and an arrest warrant.
Silva was found guilty at a non-jury trial in July, based primarily on the testimony of Woolway and the women who responded to her TGI editorial. He was sentenced to a week in jail Tuesday, a term Woolway said she was fairly satisfied with, considering Silva is a first-time offender.
“I was just glad he got something,” she said.
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Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
If the gender roles were switched in this case that road would be clogged with walkers.
What a pathetic attempt to diminish this crime. Rod Serling will now escort you to the 1950’s, where you live
Paid to do their jobs with a integrity stipend.
Kpd is paid to do their job and this concerns me.
The victim is most likely not the first complaint. How many women have filed complaints against these sickos and nothing is done but there’s preponderance of evidence to secure thorough investigations?
There are so many variables that could have happened had this not been addressed. It took a citizen to do all the work that she is not paid to do to secure an arrest and conviction.
Rookies get paid over $60,000 annual salary not including $7,000 clothing allowance (ridiculous amount), not including their overtime, and not including the integrity pay.
That to me is 3 paychecks for 1 job and they still couldn’t do their job but they are able to do other questions things that is unbecoming.
Ewwwwwwww! Nasty and yucky. Other than that, I’m at a loss for words.
Reminds of all those X-Files episodes I love so much!! Imagine how much easier Scully and Mulder’s life would have been if they had a camera…!!
But, this is 2019, not 2009… Everyone literally has a camera in their pocket these days.
I’m glad Ms. Woolway and the rest of the ladies were able to achieve some sort of “justice” and I commend her for taking matters into her own hands when it seems the system just wasn’t interested.
I am overjoyed at the persistence of this woman who has taken a stand against blatant criminal activity. The police obviously did nothing to help and this predator believed to be above the law. Thank you this article.
Remember ITS KAUAI PEOPLE LOVE TO TALK!
Know the truth before you talk !!!!!!!