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Molester’s wife gets
14 months for her role,
blames past abuse

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By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

With a childhood scarred by sexual and physical abuse and shunned by other kids in elementary and junior high school, Janice Hayes at age 14 found her only and best friend in her future husband, William George Hayes II, she told doctors.

"I feel God brought him into my life. From the first time I saw him, I knew he was my soul mate."

It was his gentleness and because "he never tried to hurt me or force himself on me," that attracted her to him, she said.

It was her past history of sexual and physical abuse and her loyalty and dependence on her husband that likely contributed to the false statements she made to authorities denying her husband had molested two girls, 14 and 15, according to a psychologists with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons who evaluated her.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan C. Kay sentenced Janice Hayes, 35, yesterday to 14 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release for pleading guilty to a charge of making false statements to investigators about her husband's molestations.

William Hayes II earlier pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl continuously over a two-year period and a molesting a 15-year-old girl at his Schofield Barracks home.

Although she denied witnessing the attacks or being told by the victims that her husband was molesting them, Hayes hampered the investigation by telling the victims not to say anything and that it was their family's business, according to prosecutors.

Hayes, who initially supported her husband when the allegations first arose in October 1999, yesterday blamed her abusive husband and said she only recently realized how "controlling" and "evil" he had been.

Because of her abusive and dysfunctional background, Hayes basically responded the same as her mother did when she and her sister reported an uncle had been sexually abusing them, said her attorney, Lane Takahashi.

Their mother either hit them, told them to forget about it or accused them of lying.

"In time of pressure and stress, you go back to what you know -- denial," Takahashi said. According to Hayes, "It's a family problem, we take care of it ourselves."

Hayes said yesterday she needs to be away from her husband and plans on seeking a divorce. She wants to be reunited with her three children, who are now in state foster care. She also now believes the girls who were molested were irreparably damaged, Takahashi said.

Being separated from her husband for almost a year and taking medication regularly to treat a previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder has allowed Hayes to think for herself, Takahashi said.

A telling indication of how controlling her husband had been came when Takahashi asked her to make some decisions and provide feedback about a pre-sentence investigation report.

Hayes told her attorney that it was the first time she can recall making a decision without her husband's permission.

"It felt so different and I was scared, but after I made it, oh wow ..." Takahashi recalled her saying.

The government had sought a longer term of incarceration, citing allegations raised by another girl in 1997 that William Hayes had sexually abused her, Takahashi said.

The girl later recanted her statements after Janice Hayes allegedly talked her into withdrawing her complaint, prosecutors had said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo argued that the abuse of the 14-year-old had occurred over a number of years and that Hayes had put her husband first while sacrificing the victim and other female friends and relatives that visited the Hayes' home during that period.

Takahashi said a psychiatrist at Tripler who examined the girl said she fabricated the allegations, and another doctor who examined her said there was no physical evidence of trauma and sexual abuse.

Because she was given credit for time served, Hayes will likely serve only about a month in federal prison before being released.

Her husband will be sentenced in April. He faces up to 15 years imprisonment each for the assaults on the two girls.