WAILUKU - A man who apologized for "technical" violations of the sex offender registration law has been sentenced to a five-year prison term after failing to provide updated information about where he was living.
Rodney Herbert, 40, also was sentenced to a five-year prison term, to be served at the same time, for not showing up for a court-ordered appearance.
In imposing the sentence Dec. 5, 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen cited Herbert's criminal history, which includes being imprisoned for 18 of his 40 years.
"You are in a very unique category," Bissen told Herbert. "You have managed to be considered at extremely high risk to recidivate - not high risk, not risk, but extremely high risk.
"You have been on probation, parole, bail. And in each of those situations, you have violated - every single time."
Herbert was sentenced after he had pleaded no contest to two counts of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements and first-degree bail jumping.
He was required to register as a sex offender because of a 1994 conviction in California for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14, said Deputy Prosecutor Iwalani Mountcastle.
When Herbert was given notice of sex offender registration requirements on Nov. 23, 2009, he reported his address as being on Mahina Street in Kihei, Mountcastle said. She said he didn't return at least seven verification forms sent to the address, despite a requirement to update information every 90 days.
Police said Herbert was homeless and staying in the Waikapu area when he was arrested April 17.
After being charged with failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements, Herbert was ordered to appear in court May 15 but didn't show up, Mountcastle said.
She said Herbert had been ordered not to consume illegal drugs and alcohol, but tests showed amphetamine, crystal methamphetamine and opiates in his system.
In court, Herbert apologized "for my action technically."
"I should have paid more attention to what the laws were," he said.
Because he was sentenced in October to a five-year prison term for second-degree theft, Herbert wasn't eligible for probation. He asked the judge for "a little bit of leniency" by having the prison terms run at the same time.
"I'll make sure I'll follow these technical things I violated once I'm free," Herbert said.
Bissen said Herbert has a history of not following court orders and of being dishonest, including in his description of his 1994 sexual assault conviction.
Herbert reported that the victim was his girlfriend who was one month shy of turning 15 and he was 21 and had been misled about her age, Bissen said.
But he said Herbert's probation officer reported that the girl was 13 and Herbert was 22 at the time of the crime. The judge said Herbert gave alcohol to the girl's boyfriend and when he passed out, Herbert sexually assaulted the girl, according to the probation officer.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
