A Maui High School teacher and football referee has been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, according to officials at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office in Oregon and the Hawaii Department of Education.
A sheriff's office official said Saturday morning that Thomas Takeuchi was taken into custody on a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor May 27. Takeuchi was released May 30 to officials with Whitman County in Washington state, the official said.
An official with the Whitman County Sheriff's Office said Takeuchi was not being held in custody on Saturday.
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THOMAS TAKEUCHI, charged with sexual exploita-
tion of a minor
Maui Complex Superintendent Bruce Anderson said Takeuchi, 60, has been a Maui High School teacher since 1994, instructing students in social studies and science.
Anderson said he didn't know why Takeuchi was on the Mainland, but "he wasn't on DOE business."
Students and teachers in public schools are in their summer break, he noted.
Anderson said the primary concern of Hawaii school officials is the safety of students, and an internal investigation has been launched into the circumstances of Takeuchi's arrest.
"We don't know what really happened," he said Saturday.
Anderson said he learned of Takeuchi's arrest when Maui High School was contacted last week by law enforcement officials from Washington state.
