A Hawaii basketball coach was sentenced last week to more than 33 years in prison for multiple child exploitation and harassment charges against at least 10 victims.
In a press release last Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that 52-year-old Dwayne Yuen, a youth basketball coach from Honolulu, Hawaii, was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for sex trafficking of a minor, enticement of a minor, harassment, and the production and receipt of child pornography.
“The defendant was a youth basketball coach who shamelessly sexually exploited, abused, harassed, and threatened his young victims, causing incalculable harm to them,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti said.
According to the Justice Department, the 52-year-old coach exploited and harassed at least 10 victims while serving as a “coach and mentor” to the victims from 2005 to 2023. The department explained that Yuen groomed his victims, who were often vulnerable due to family or financial issues, purchased gifts for his victims, and spent an “inappropriate amount of time” alone with his victims.
“Once trust was established, Yuen began engaging in sexual conversations with his victims, including sending them sexually explicit images,” the Justice Department stated. “In the early 2000s, he engaged in coerced and forced sexual contact with victims as young as 15 years old.”
READ MORE: Dark web child abuse websites dismantled by DOJ, FBI
The Justice Department said that Yuen prevented the victims from stopping or exposing his abuse by threatening to hurt the careers and reputations of his victims. Yuen also threatened one of his victims with rape and death and threatened, blackmailed, and assaulted another victim who “tried to avoid his sexual advances.”
The Justice Department noted that the basketball coach paid young players to have sexually explicit conversations and send him sexually explicit pictures. According to the press release, Yuen also had a minor participate with him in a sexually explicit video call in 2020. The coach later shared screenshots of the video call to another victim. In addition to child sexual exploitation, Yuen was also accused of sending numerous harassing messages to his former basketball players.
In last week’s press release, Ken Sorenson, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said, “Dwayne Yuen grossly and repeatedly violated the sacred trust placed in him by his employer and the parents and families of his young female victims. He used his power and position to groom and then serially exploit and victimize the young girls entrusted to his care.”
“While nothing can ever undo the harm he has caused these children and their families, it is our sincere hope that today’s sentence will ensure that our community and children are protected from him, and serve to deter other predators like him in the future,” Sorenson added.
