The Hawai‘i Police Department has charged 46-year-old James Michael Taylor of Volcano with sexual assault.
Just before 5 a.m. on Sunday, April 11, 2021, Puna patrol officers responded to a report of a sexual assault in the Volcano area. Officers contacted a 57-year-old female who reported that she heard a dog barking outside her residence and upon going to check on it, she was tackled to the ground and sexually assaulted by a man.
While conducting checks of the surrounding area, officers located the man sleeping in the bushes on a neighboring vacant lot a short distance from the victim’s residence. Taylor was arrested without incident.
Detectives from the Area I Juvenile Aid Section continued this investigation and on April 12, 2021, after conferring with prosecutors, detectives charged Taylor with four counts of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping, and one count of assault.
Taylor’s bail was set at $187,000 and he is being held at the East Hawaii detention center awaiting his preliminary hearing, scheduled for later today, April 13, 2021.