WAILUKU – With a deputy prosecutor saying a homeless teenage girl suffered physical and emotional harm when she was given methamphetamine and subjected to unprotected sex, a Haiku man was sentenced Tuesday to a 10-year prison term for assaulting the girl.

Clifford Muller, 24, had asked to be sentenced to probation and drug treatment. “Just give me the opportunity to redeem myself,” he said in court.

Deputy Prosecutor Kim Whitworth and the girl’s mother asked for the 10-year prison term for Muller, who was charged with assaulting the girl between June and August 2014 when he was 23 and she was 15.

“As a 23-year-old, this isn’t a case of boyfriend-girlfriend. This isn’t a case of consent,” Whitworth said. “A child cannot understand the danger of entering into a sexual relationship with someone. Both physical and emotional damage happened here.”

Originally charged with first-degree sexual assault of the girl, Muller had pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree assault and second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. Whitworth said the plea agreement reducing the charges was reached after speaking with the girl and her family and reviewing the case.

When she met Muller last year, the girl was living with her mother and her mother’s disabled partner at a homeless encampment at Kanaha Beach Park in Kahului, Whitworth said.

“He knew she had family problems,” Whitworth said.

Through unprotected sex, Muller gave the girl a venereal disease, Whitworth said. “He knowingly provided her with methamphetamine, leading to her addiction,” Whitworth said.

She said the girl was diagnosed with methamphetamine-induced psychosis and is seeing doctors for permanent brain damage from methamphetamine.

The girl’s behavioral issues, including anger and violence, have subsided, Whitworth said, “but the impact of her time spent with the defendant and her drug use is lifelong.”

To get the girl away from Muller, her mother rented a hotel room in Kahului, Whitworth said. She said the mother fought to have authorities intervene so the girl could get help.

The girl suffers memory loss, her mother said in court, and the family has a temporary restraining order against Muller.

At the time of the offenses, Muller was dealing with substance abuse issues of his own dating to when he was a teenager, said Deputy Public Defender Shelly Miyashiro.

“I believe he was using ice at the time of the offenses and this did contribute to his poor judgment, poor decision-making,” Miyashiro said. “There are different views as to what happened.”

In Muller’s view, he met and fell in love with the girl and believed they were boyfriend and girlfriend, Miyashiro said. “But the law is clear,” she said. “She was 15 at the time.”

When Muller was questioned by police, he acknowledged his actions, including teaching the girl how to buy and use methamphetamine, Whitworth said. “He fully admitted to all these actions – not as crimes in his eyes but as acts of love,” Whitworth said.

“He didn’t understand the magnitude of the crimes he committed and the long-term effect he will have on her,” she said.

She said Muller has prior law enforcement contacts for drug-related offenses.

In a separate case, Muller pleaded no contest to third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia for being found with drugs after a traffic stop.

In sentencing Muller to concurrent 10-year and five-year prison terms, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza said Muller “had a tremendous amount of physical and emotional control” over the girl.

He noted the contact between Muller and the girl was illegal to begin with and the drug use led to “tremendous upheaval in her life.”

“The result of all of this is physical injury to the minor as well as emotional injury that apparently will last for a very long time,” Cardoza said. “That’s an extremely serious circumstance. That’s why there are laws that prohibit what was occurring.”

Muller was ordered to pay $350 in restitution and to have no contact with the girl.

Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.