Registered Sex Offender Assaults Woman in Dressing Room

Charles Cowan is being held at the Wailuku Police Station in lieu of $100,000 bail after being charged with first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping for an incident on Friday, May 31. Photo courtesy of the Maui Police Department.

By Maui Now Staff

After registering as a sex offender at the Wailuku Police Station Friday, May 31, Charles Cowan sexually assaulted a woman in a store dressing room and then tried to escape.

Cowan, 43, reportedly dragged a 33-year-old woman into a store dressing room at Maui Mall, then sexually assaulted her, police said.

The suspect was being held at the Wailuku Police Station in lieu of $100,000 bail after being charged with first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping, according to media reports in The Maui News and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

An off-duty police officer who was in the area reportedly helped detain Cowan outside the store after the woman yelled for help, according to one of the publications.