Ala Moana barber could face deportation
Longtime Ala Moana Center barber Ayato "John" Endo will not have to spend any more time behind bars for lying about his citizenship on state sexual offender registry documents. However, he is facing deportation to his native Japan.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Endo yesterday to the 54 days he has already spent in custody and one year of supervised release.
Endo, 62, apologized to the court and the people of Hawaii for what he did.
"I know it was wrong," he said.
Endo pleaded guilty last November to impersonating a citizen of the United States. The charge carries a maximum three-year prison term. But under advisory federal court sentencing guidelines, Endo was facing no more than six months in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino.
Hino said he is satisfied with the sentence because Endo's case drew a lot of publicity and put sexual offenders on notice that that there are consequences to lying on their registers.
"I think we made our point in this case," Hino said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials discovered Endo, a Japanese citizen, had lied about his citizenship when he registered with the state as a sexual offender in 2006. He has a 1984 conviction for first-degree sexual abuse of a 6-year-old girl. For that crime he was placed on five years' probation and ordered to spend eight consecutive weekends in jail.
He has been a permanent resident alien since 1971 and has been cutting hair at Thom's Barber Shop for more than 30 years. His immigration lawyer said Endo continues to cut hair at Thom's while fighting deportation.