HONOLULU Brandon Charles Saffeels, 37, a former Maui Police Department officer, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court to attempted child enticement. U.S. District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi took Saffeels guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for September 7, 2022.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, on Dec. 3, 2021, Saffeels contacted the online profile of what appeared to be a young female. The profile, however, was controlled by an undercover law enforcement officer (UC). Eventually during the conversation, Saffeels asked the UC, How old are u? and the UC responded Plz dont judge but im 13. Later in the conversation, the UC asked Saffeels, U okay wit my age? Saffeels replied, Age is just a number.
To entice the UC, Saffeels offered to take the UC shopping and repeatedly offered to give her money. At one point, the UC asked him what she needed to do for the money and Saffeels responded, Sex. Saffeels also repeatedly implored the UC to send him sexy pictures and specifically requested a sexy nude picture. For his part, Saffeels sent the UC a picture of himself in which a portion of his genitals was visible.
On December 4, 2021, Saffeels contacted the UC and requested that they meet for sex at a designated location. Shortly after midnight the following day, Saffeels arrived at the agreed-upon meeting location where he was arrested by law enforcement.
Saffeels was due to self-surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons on January 7, 2022, to begin service of a 30-month sentence Judge Kobayashi imposed for a federal public corruption offense.
The charge of attempted enticement of a minor provides for a mandatoryminimum sentence of not less than 10 years and up to life, a fine of up to$250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years and up tolife. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S.Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Saffeels will also have toregister as a sex offender, as required by the Sex Offender Registration andNotification Act.
This defendant violated the trust of the court, which had allowed him toremain out of custody prior to serving time for his public corruption sentence,said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors. Because the defendants new crime soughtto victimize a child, it requires a minimum term of 10 years. Our office remainsfirmly committed to prosecuting crimes that target our children.
The FBI takes crimes against children seriously and even more so when itinvolves a former law enforcement officer whom the public holds to a higherstandard, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill. We thank MauiPolice Department and our other federal law enforcement partners for theirassistance in protecting Hawaiis keiki. We also thank the public for theircontinued trust and confidence in law enforcement as we investigate these types ofcases.
Homeland Security Investigations is committed to protecting our keikifrom predators like Mr. Saffeels, said Special Agent in Charge John F. TobonWhat makes matters worse is that he once held a position of public trust.
This conviction is the result of a multi-agency investigation involving theFederal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the MauiPolice Department, and the United States Secret Service. Assistant U.S. AttorneyMohammad Khatib is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Secret Service