Man admits raping
4 prostitutes

Charges are reduced in
exchange for his guilty pleas
involving sex assaults last year

A 37-year-old Waialua man prosecutors describe as a "serial rapist" has admitted to raping four prostitutes.

Michael Carter: He must serve at least three years and four months as a repeat offender

In exchange for his guilty plea, Michael L. Carter was allowed to plead to reduced charges of second-degree sexual assault and attempted second-degree sexual assault. He also pleaded guilty as charged to kidnapping and two counts of impersonating a law enforcement officer.

Carter was initially indicted on multiple counts of first-degree sexual assault for raping four prostitutes during a six-month period beginning in March 2004.

Carter, who was working as a chef when he was arrested last September, allegedly told three of the women he picked up downtown that he was a police officer. He picked up the fourth victim in Wahiawa.

The women did not report the assaults right away. Two of the victims in the downtown incidents reported the rapes months later after spotting him driving in downtown and pointing him out to police.

Defense attorney Myles Breiner said the plea agreement was the "correct" resolution to the case. "The public is protected, justice is done, Mr. Carter has taken responsibility and the women are vindicated," he said. But he disputes the prosecutor's characterization of his client as a "serial rapist."

He said the four cases were "overcharged" and an example of the prosecutor's power to "bundle" unrelated charges to create a false impression in the grand jury's mind that the person being charged is a serial criminal.

Breiner said the grand jury should have been told that one or more of the women accusing him were in jail, at least two if not all were full-time prostitutes, one might have been selling drugs, and all allegedly continued working as prostitutes months after the alleged rapes.

Deputy Prosecutor Thalia Murphy maintains that Carter is a serial rapist and a danger because he showed a pattern of using force against prostitutes. At the time of the incidents, he had just been paroled for assaulting a prostitute, nearly breaking her back.

"Unfortunately, some people don't want to accept that prostitutes can be sexually assaulted, but what happened to them was violent, was against the law, and the defendant showed a pattern of doing this," Murphy said.

Carter agreed to a maximum 10-year sentence for the sex assaults and kidnapping, third-degree sexual assault and impersonating a law enforcement officer. He must serve a mandatory minimum of three years and four months as a repeat offender.

Murphy said she hopes the Hawaii Paroling Authority will order him to serve the 10-year maximum. While in prison for the previous sex assault, Carter completed sex offender treatment, she said. "It shows that even after he completed sex offender treatment, he can re-offend."