A fast-food employee charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman inside a Kailua Jack in the Box last week was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant at the time of the alleged attack, according to court records.

But Elia Hauanio, 23, of Wai'anae, had never been served with the warrant, which had been issued more than two years ago.

Hauanio was indicted yesterday on three counts of sexually assaulting the woman at 4:30 a.m. July 31 in the dining area of the Oneawa Street fast-food franchise.

Hauanio, who is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, did not enter a plea when he first appeared in court Monday to answer preliminary charges in the case.

The arrest warrant for Hauanio joined a backlog of some 70,000 unserved arrest warrants in the hands of Hawai'i law enforcement.

After The Advertiser reported on that backlog last year, the Legislature created a task force to study ways to reduce the backlog.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said yesterday that he couldn't comment specifically on the Hauanio case, but noted that the logjam of unserved warrants is a serious problem for the courts and law enforcement agencies.

"There's no doubt that not having these things served defeats the interests of justice," Carlisle said.

NO RECORD FOUND

Louis Kim McCoy, spokeswoman for the Hawai'i Department of Public Safety, said yesterday the Sheriff's Division, which keeps and serves thousands of arrest warrants, had no record in its files of the June 2005 Hauanio warrant. Sheriffs primarily handle traffic court arrest warrants, but they also serve other categories of bench warrants issued by state judges.

Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department, said yesterday that three outstanding warrants were served on Hauanio after he was in custody on the sex assault charges. She said she believed the warrants involved contempt-of-court charges. One had a bail amount of $11,000 — the same as the June 2005 warrant — and the others with bail of $1,200 and $500.

"We're trying to check to see what kinds of previous attempts were made to serve warrants on him," Yu said.

The alleged sexual assault victim told authorities that she was intoxicated and lost when she sought help from two restaurant employees, who invited her inside. The dining area was closed to the public at the time.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Vickie Kapp said in court yesterday that the victim fell asleep and later was awakened because Hauanio was "touching her."

The woman screamed and resisted but was sexually assaulted, Kapp alleged.

The outstanding arrest warrant on Hauanio was issued after he failed to show up for a court hearing in a previous criminal case, court records show.

AUTO THEFT CHARGE

According to Circuit Court records, Hauanio was charged with auto theft in late 2003 and later entered what is called a "deferred acceptance of no contest" plea in the case. Under that plea, a defendant will not be convicted of the offense if he or she stays out of trouble with the law for a specified period of time.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins accepted the plea in April 2004 and placed Hauanio under court supervision for five years.

In less than a month, however, he was in trouble with the law again. He was charged with misdemeanor theft on May 4, 2004, and found guilty six days later. He served six days in jail but failed to report the infraction to his probation officer, a requirement of probation, according to an affidavit from that officer, Debra Iijima.

Also, Hauanio tested positive for drug use in April and November 2004 and March and April 2005, Iijima said.

He also failed to complete court-ordered drug treatment and did not repay any of the $1,822 restitution owed to the owner of the stolen car.

In May 2005, based on Iijima's affidavit, the city prosecutor's office moved to set aside Hauanio's plea.

He failed to appear for a June 2005 court hearing, and Perkins issued an $11,000 warrant for Hauanio's arrest on June 15, 2005.

It could not be determined yesterday if the Kailua Jack in the Box restaurant conducts any criminal background checks or drug testing of prospective employees.

The restaurant manager referred questions to Jack in the Box corporate headquarters on the Mainland. Corporate spokeswoman Kathleen Anthony said yesterday afternoon, "The franchise operator for the Jack in the Box restaurant on Oneawa Street was not aware of this employee's prior convictions or outstanding warrants."

Anthony also said that "during the hiring process, the employee falsely stated to restaurant management that he had no criminal record."

A check of the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center Web site, an online database that contains criminal conviction records, does not show Hauanio's 2003 auto theft case because of the deferred plea and the unresolved court action to set that plea aside.

But Circuit Court records, available at no cost online, do show the auto theft case and the issuance of the June 2005 arrest warrant.

Hauanio gave a Waimanalo address when he was arrested last week, but a resident at that address said Hauanio is from the Wai'anae area and was staying at the Waimanalo home temporarily.

According to court records in the 2003 auto theft case, Hauanio had been living with his parents and also with an aunt in Wai'anae.

The officer who arrested Hauanio in that case reported that he was driving a stolen car believed to have been used in a robbery attempt.

A glass pipe containing drug residue was recovered from the car, which contained four other men besides Hauanio. He was charged with only the auto theft offense.

Hauanio is represented by the Public Defender's Office.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.