Former Hilo man extradited, faces decades-old sexual assault charges

A decades-old Hilo case has been brought back into the open after investigators returned Mayapur Das Fiorentino from Florida to face four felony sexual assault charges in Hawaii County Circuit Court. The former Hilo resident, now 51, pleaded not guilty and remains held at Hawaii Community Correctional Center while the court process moves toward a June 15 hearing.

Fiorentino was arrested May 7 in Miami Beach by Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputies and escorted back to Hawaii Island by investigators with the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said the case was initiated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where Fiorentino had also lived after leaving Hawaii. The indictment was returned by a Hilo grand jury on March 19, 2025.

The charges allege first-degree sexual assault involving a minor who was at least 14 but less than 16 years old, with the offenses said to have occurred between March 2013 and July 2014. Court records reported by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald say the victim, identified in the indictment only by initials, was born in July 1998 and is now an adult. Under Hawaii law, first-degree sexual assault is a Class A felony and can carry an indeterminate 20-year prison term.

Bail was initially set at $150,000, but Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota raised it to $400,000 after arguments from Deputy Prosecutor Heipua Ah Loy and defense attorney William Harrison. Fiorentino has been ordered to return to court on June 15, 2026, for further proceedings, a step that will keep the case moving through a system that has already taken more than a decade to reach this point.

For Hawaii County, the case carries significance beyond one defendant. Prosecutors said that if Fiorentino is convicted on two or more counts, they will seek to have him treated as a multiple offender and argue that an extended term of imprisonment is needed for public protection. In practice, an extended term on more than one Class A felony can mean life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

The prosecution also lands at a time when Hawaii has widened the window for survivors of child sexual abuse to seek civil accountability, extending the filing deadline to at least 32 years after a survivor’s 18th birthday. The county prosecutor’s office says its mission is to pursue justice with integrity and commitment, and it maintains victim and witness services in Hilo and Kona. People with information can contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.