Woman from Maui is being held in Denver

The ex-isle resident allegedly hit her two kids during a flight

WAILUKU » A former Maui woman who allegedly beat her two children on a July 16 flight to Denver and threw a drink at a flight attendant is being held by federal authorities.

Tamera Jo Freeman, 38, now of San Francisco, had been sentenced to jail for domestic abuse cases on Maui. Her attorney said in February that Freeman had completed an anger management program.

A federal magistrate in Denver said yesterday he did not think Freeman had sufficient ties to Colorado to ensure she would return for trial.

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WAILUKU » A woman who had a tumultuous domestic past on Maui is being held by federal officials in Colorado after allegedly beating her two children on a flight to Denver and throwing a drink at a flight attendant.

Tamera Jo Freeman, 38, who now resides in San Francisco, was charged with two counts of assault and one count of interfering with a flight attendant.

Freeman, who had a detention hearing yesterday in U.S. District Court in Denver, is accused of slapping her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son before the flight attendant intervened.

On Maui, Freeman was sentenced to 30 days in jail in October for failing to comply with conditions of her probation, after being convicted of domestic abuse.

The abuse charge stemmed from her failure to abide with a 24-hour cooling-off period with a Maui man who is her daughter's father.

She was convicted of violating a protective order against the same man on Feb. 28 and sentenced to 16 days in jail.

With credit for time served while in jail, she spent no further time incarcerated.

During her sentencing in February, her attorney told the court that she had completed an anger management program.

In 2005, Freeman's vehicle was used by Paul L.V. Campos, who was wanted on charges that he stabbed a man, county deputy prosecutors recalled.

Campos was wounded in the face and neck after he allegedly tried to elude police in an apartment parking lot in Kihei.

During the hearing in Denver, Freeman, whose long brown hair was knotted atop her head, sat in a red jail uniform conferring with her court-appointed lawyer, Martha Eskesen.

The prosecution had requested she remain in custody, citing a past "issue" with Freeman in Hawaii.

Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer said he did not think Freeman had sufficient ties to Colorado to ensure she would return for trial. He also said Freeman has "medical issues that I find problematic."

Eskesen requested that sensitive details be withheld from the public record because of the "high media attention in this case."

Shaffer assured her he would protect Freeman's rights as a private citizen.

"There's a great deal of information in the pretrial services report which I frankly believe is private," Shaffer said.