When a 12-year veteran of the Maui Police Department was arrested on sexual assault charges this week, he was not identified by name and his mug shot was not included in a department news release.

The release only identified the officer as a 49-year-old male and Kahului resident.

His name, according to arrest logs located at the Wailuku station, was Devin Schoeppner.

MPD said on Monday he was detained on a $150,000 warrant and charged with four counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of third-degree sexual assault. 

On Wednesday, the Maui County Department of the Prosecuting Attorney announced he had been indicted by a grand jury last week.

Schoeppner was the latest example of a person arrested by MPD whose mug shot and name were not released but were available by request or by checking public records. 

It’s a policy the Maui Police Department adopted in 2024 after Arizona resident Brian Houston sued the Maricopa County sheriff’s department over the publication of his mug shot with identifying information that included his name, date of birth and other personal details such as his height and weight.

Charges were later dropped against him, but Houston said his reputation had already been damaged and his mug shot had been picked up by third-party websites. 

In September 2024, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Hawai‘i and the West Coast, ruled that the publication of mug shots on government websites was unconstitutional and essentially amounted to “pretrial punishment.” 

The unanimous ruling of the three judge panel opened the door for Houston and others to sue the law enforcement agency.

MPD, which in the past routinely released names and mug shots with arrests, changed its policy to comply with the ruling, spokesperson Alana Pico said.

“This is not a matter of MPD choosing whether or not to release information,” she told the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative Wednesday.

Now, in disclaimers on its news releases, MPD says: “Mug shots, names and other identifying details are no longer released because the Ninth Circuit ruled that once online, the information remains public indefinitely, even if charges are dropped or the person is found not guilty. However, exceptions exist when public safety or crime prevention justifies the release, such as alerting businesses about shoplifters, warning the public about dangerous fugitives, or seeking help locating individuals with outstanding warrants.” 

Pico said “this does not prevent the media from obtaining arrest information.” Arrest logs are still available 24/7 at the Wailuku police station’s receiving desk, and MPD can confirm the identity of someone who is arrested if the media asks. 

“The distinction is that MPD will not proactively publish those identifying details in press releases or other online postings where they would remain publicly accessible indefinitely,” Pico said. “When a public safety or crime-prevention exception applies, MPD will release the information.”

What MPD decides to release depends on the case and whether the person is in custody or still at large.

For example, earlier this week MPD asked for the public’s help in finding 39-year-old Devin Fulcher, who was wanted for reckless endangerment and terroristic threatening and had last been seen in the Jaws/Pe‘ahi area. MPD released his mug shot and details that included his height, weight, hair and eye color. 

On Aug. 18, MPD asked the public to help locate a woman who allegedly stole money from another person’s account at the American Savings Pukalani branch in July. Police released photos of the woman as well as details that included her approximate age, height, weight and appearance.

But in multiple cases when the people were already in custody, MPD did not release the details in news releases, even if the charges were serious.

On Aug. 9, MPD said it had arrested a 34-year-old Wailuku man, a 31-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman, both of Mauna Loa, during an investigation into the death of a 71-year-old Kahului man. The two male suspects were charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree assault with bail set at $530,000 each.

Police said they did not release the suspects’ identity due to the court ruling. Their names, charges and bail amounts appeared in arrest logs and they were later identified by media outlets as Richard Kealoha Kaauwai and Johnathan Koko-Kong. 

In June, MPD partnered with Home Depot to arrest and charge five people for shoplifting in an operation code named “Barcode Bandits.” MPD released their ages, genders and hometowns but did not release their names or mug shots, citing the court case. 

In June 2025, MPD and other law enforcement agencies arrested six suspects on Maui as part of “Operation Keiki Shield” that aims to catch offenders who commit internet-facilitated sex crimes against children as well as rescue victims of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Maui police originally did not release their names due to the 9th Circuit Court ruling, but the department later confirmed to Maui Now the identity of those who matched their in-custody records. 

Brian Black, executive director of the Public First Law Center that advocates for open government and public records, said the Hawai‘i Office of Information Practices “has said for decades that mug shots are something that is a public record because the arrest is a public event.”

“It’s something that the public is entitled to understand and know more about, and so mug shots are just part of that,” Black said.

Both an opinion in 1994 and another in 2003 affirmed that booking photographs by county police departments are public government records that must be made available to the public under the Uniform Information Practices Act.

MPD’s decision not to disclose mug shots and other details when they announce arrests but agreeing to provide them upon request does comply with the Office of Information Practices’ opinions, Black said. 

“The public records law only operates on a request basis,” he said. “What the department decides to do on a voluntary basis in terms of what they disclose in press releases, that’s up to them.”

Black said that releasing the information upon request is different from publishing it with the intent to punish someone before they can go to trial. 

He said state lawmakers have created protections for people who are arrested and not convicted. If their arrests have been expunged, the mug shots are protected from disclosure. 

“So that’s the Legislature’s way of protecting and balancing the rights between public access to information that is happening in the court system and the defendant’s rights … if they’re eventually found not guilty,” Black said. 

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, a former prosecutor and 2nd Circuit Court chief judge, pointed out that in the court system, the prosecution is also limited in what information it can release in an effort to not bias the jury. 

Details released prior to trial can influence public perception. If there is a suspect at large in the community, it makes sense to let people know what to look out for, Bissen said. But talking about their prior records, such as whether they’ve been arrested in the past, is “not really relevant to what you’re trying to inform the public about.” 

Bissen said he couldn’t speak to whether releasing the name of the MPD veteran who was arrested for sexual assault was a matter of public safety because it would depend on the facts of the case.

“I can only tell you about the prosecutor’s requirements on what they can and cannot release pre-trial,” he said Wednesday. “Police, if they have a rule, then they have a rule.”

In Schoeppner’s case, the charges came from an encounter between him “and a citizen following a single-car crash of the victim’s vehicle,” according to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. The department believes there are others who “had interactions with Schoeppner or know someone who did,” Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin said.

The charges against Schoeppner come in the wake of federal authorities’ high-profile arrest of MPD Lt. Michael Vaitu‘ulala, who is accused of taking bribes to protect chicken fights and drug trafficking operations.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said at the time that MPD would take a “zero tolerance” approach with both internal and external audits in an effort to restore public trust. 

In a statement to the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative on Thursday, Pelletier said that “when an employee engages in criminal misconduct, that individual will be held accountable.” He noted that “in the most recent case, the Department acted swiftly, ultimately arresting the individual in two separate instances related to that case.”

Schoeppner was placed on administrative leave in May 2025 when he was arrested for first-degree sexual assault. His department-issued credentials and firearm were removed pending the outcome of the investigation.

“Such conduct violates the law and the oath sworn to serve, and breaches the trust our community places in its law enforcement officers,” Pelletier said. “We will not compromise on the standards of integrity, professionalism, and accountability that our community expects and deserves.”