Honolulu police are looking for an escapee from the State Hospital who allegedly kidnapped and molested an 8-year-old girl in Lahaina in 2001.

Police said David True Seal, 30, escaped at 2:30 this afternoon. He was spotted at about 4:15 p.m. near the entrance to the “;Stairway to Heaven”; at Haiku Road and Kuneki Street. Police are searching the area using helicopters and police dogs.

Seal is described as 5 feet, 8 inches, and about 165 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a blue and white long sleeve flannel shirt and light blue jeans.

Seal was acquitted because of a mental defect, according to court records, and sent to the State Hospital.

He was arrested Halloween night in 2001 after he allegedly grabbed an 8-year-old girl who was on Front Street with her mother and grandmother near a park fronting the state library.

Police said Seal was taking off the girl's clothes in a secluded area in the park when another man spotted them. Seal fled into Lahaina harbor and was arrested, naked and hanging onto a buoy, outside the entrance to the harbor. 

Seal was last in court in June when his motion for conditional release was denied.

Police say if anyone sees Seal, they should call police and should not approach him.