Retired Army officer Lt. Col. Alexander Kaleolani Kayatani was briefly held in the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, shown here in this undated photo, after being charged with attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor. (Federal Bureau of Prisons)
(Tribune News Service) — The ex-chief microbiologist at Tripler Army Medical Center has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of sending sexually explicit messages to a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl as he tried to lure her into a sexual relationship.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Kaleolani Kayatani, 49, aka “Daddy Dom,” pleaded guilty Aug. 12 to one count of attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor.
He was originally charged April 18 with one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.
Kayatani will be sentenced Dec. 4 at 1 :30 p.m. by Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright.
Kayatani worked at Tripler until July 1, 2023. He served in the U.S. Army from June 28, 1997, until July 1, 2023. During the pandemic, Kayatani helped oversee COVID-19 testing at Tripler.
He is facing up to a decade in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release. Kayatani must register as a sex offender.
He was released on a secured bond of $100,000. Federal prosecutors wanted him held without bail.
Kayatani had to put up a $20,000 cash deposit with the court before he was released from the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu. The bond papers were signed by Kayatani and his wife who serves as the third-party custodian of his supervised release.
He was arrested April 17 at a house near a thrift store on Schofield Barracks. Kayatani was on base thinking he was meeting 14-year-old “Izzy ” who he sent sexually explicit messages to starting on April 15.
“Izzy” was a special agent with the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division participating in an online sting operation looking for pedophiles.
On April 17, Kayatani was monitored by law enforcement as he drove to drop his 14-year-old child at school.
After dropping off his child, federal agents watched Kayatani drive to another home in Honolulu before using his U.S. Department of Defense identification to access Schofield Barracks to meet “Izzy.”
He was arrested at the Schofield Barracks house where he was supposed to meet “Izzy.”
Kayatani used the dating application “Feeld ” to match with “Izzy” who presented herself online as “here to have fun. Cool vibes only,” according to federal court records.
Eleven minutes after exchanging mobile phone numbers with the undercover Army CID special agent, Kayatani learned that “Izzy ” was 14.
Kayatani admitted to outlining how he wanted the sexual relationship with “Izzy” to go, according to the plea agreement. Kayatani recommended they progress “just like this” which he explained as “talking about it all” while taking “baby steps.”
“I like to start with Boba (so) there are no surprises,” Kayatani texted “Izzy” according to the plea agreement. “See if there’s chemistry ... no expectations for sex ... and condoms ofc (of course ).”
Kayatani told Izzy that she should go for a run or walk on Schofield Barracks, so Izzy’s sister “doesn’t think it’s weird down the line when you’re ready to meet.” He then began a series of sexually explicit messages to “Izzy,” saying what he wanted to do to her.
Kayatani bought “Izzy” a skirt at Target after the undercover special agent told Kayatani that she wore clothing more appropriate for a 12-year-old girl.
He texted the undercover agent a picture of the pink skirt and a sexually explicit message.
Kayatani was chief of the Department of Microbiology at Tripler and told “Izzy” that’s where he was stationed.
He was one of 13 co-authors of the February 2022 study “Persons tested for SAR-CoV-2 at a military treatment facility in Hawaii” that was published by the National Institute of Health.
Before being stationed at the Tripler, Kayatani was assigned to the Walter Reed Medical Research Institute in Washington, D.C., as a post doctoral fellow in the Malaria Vaccine Development Program. He also worked as a scientist at the Center for Infectious Disease Research at Walter Reed and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Kaiserslautern, Germany. Kayatani earned his doctorate from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.
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