By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
James Allen Thompson, left, confers today with his
attorney, Richard Huddy. Thompson says that he
did not sexually assault three girls.

Sex assault suspect
denies charges

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A former prison guard took the stand today and denied he sexually assaulted three Mililani teen-agers, tried to kidnap another girl and masturbated in front of another.

James Allen Thompson, 38, is accused of abducting three girls on separate occasions between January and September 1997, driving them to a remote pineapple field and forcing them to perform oral sex.

His defense attorney says police got the wrong guy.

Another girl who alleged he masturbated in front of her while sitting in his car after stopping her to ask for directions took down his license plate, leading to his arrest on Sept. 28, 1997.

Thompson said he did no such thing and stopped her for a few seconds only for directions. She was very rude to him, he said, and he might have sworn at her after she brushed him off.

Thompson saw her looking back at his car, and she appeared to be taking down his car's license plate number as he drove away.

When he arrived home that night, his wife told him police had been calling asking about his whereabouts. Surprised, he called the Wahiawa police station and asked why he was being sought.

"I was kind of shocked that they were looking for me," he said.

He was told someone would call him back. No one called so he kept calling. He said he was willing to go to the station to clear up the matter. The next morning, he called Wahiawa again but was told it was "all a misunderstanding and to forget about it."

At home later that day, he heard his dogs barking and went to the front door to find police SWAT officers pointing rifles at him, he said.

Thompson said his arrest and subsequent incarceration have affected him and his family deeply.

"I can't believe this is happening," the soft-spoken Mililani High School graduate said.

Incarcerated since his arrest, he said being away from his family has been "pretty rough." He and his wife, married about 3 years, have a daughter.

Thompson is charged with 23 felony counts of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and kidnapping.

The reports of a possible serial rapist brought heightened awareness to Mililani, a planned family community that was named an All American City in the mid-1980s.