UPDATED 5:47 p.m. 5/27/15

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro dismissed sexual assault charges Wednesday against 16 massage parlor employees who were arrested as part of a city police sting earlier this month.

Kaneshiro said in a press release that there was insufficient evidence to take the case to trial, although he believed the Honolulu Police Department did have probable cause to make the arrests.

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro won’t charge 16 massage parlor workers with sexual assault after they were arrested as part of an HPD prostitution sting.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

According to news reports, the employees worked at massage parlors around Ala Moana that were purported to be involved in prostitution.

The Honolulu Police Department sting was in response to complaints from neighbors about the alleged illegal activity.

But HPD’s tactics have come under fire, especially since the fourth degree sex assault charges carry a harsher penalty than prostitution.

Myles Briener is an attorney representing some of the women. He told the Associated Press that HPD was “experimenting with the limits of the constitution.”

Breiner said that in at least one case an HPD officer took off his clothes and placed a worker’s hands on his genitals.

“Sex assault in the fourth degree is a nonconsensual touching of a sexual nature,” he told the AP. “How can you say it’s not consensual when the officers are going into these establishments intending to be touched?”

UPDATE

HPD Spokeswoman Michelle Yu issued a response to Kaneshiro’s dismissal of the charges Wednesday afternoon, saying in a written statement that the department will not be deterred from its goal of targeting sex traffickers and others involved in promoting prostitution.

“HPD has met with judges, social service providers, and human trafficking experts to address this important issue,” Yu wrote. “Thus far the discussion has not yielded or produced a viable police strategy that does not involve the enforcement of prostitution laws.”

Yu also included the text of an unpublished op-ed the department submitted to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. You can read that piece here. It was issued before Kaneshiro’s decision to dismiss the charges against the massage parlor workers.

The letter was signed by HPD Chief Louis Kealoha and Kaneshiro along with the top officials from Hawaii’s federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Homeland Security and U.S. Attorneys Office.