Former Oahu Schoolteacher Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography

HONOLULU –Senior United States District Judge Susan O. Mollway sentenced Alden Bunag, 35, of Honolulu, yesterday to 210 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for production of child pornography. Bunag will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay identified victims $30,000 in restitution. Bunag has been detained in custody since he was arrested in June 2022 at an Oahu high school where he was working as a summer schoolteacher. Bunag pleaded guilty to the child pornography production offense on May 19, 2023.

According to information produced to the court, from around 2017 through 2018, when Bunag was working as a middle school teacher on Oahu, he engaged in repeated sexual activity with a 13-year-old student. Bunag recorded the sexual activity on multiple occasions, which took place in his middle school classroom. He later sent the video(s) to others, including a teacher in Pennsylvania, who was also prosecuted for child exploitation offenses. In addition to the videos Bunag recorded of his former student, he also possessed thousands of images of child pornography, to which he had access to from his phone on the date of his arrest. The videos included young male children being sexually assaulted while bound and in pain. Bunag distributed several of these videos to the Pennsylvania teacher and others.

“Bunag’s sentence reflects the horrendous nature of the crimes he committed, including against a child for whom the classroom became a place of torture rather than learning and nurturing,” said United States Attorney Clare E. Connors. “Child abusers cause incredible harm to the most vulnerable members of our community, and we will continue to hold them accountable under the law.”

“This sentence shows that the FBI will target those individuals who prey on our most vulnerable members of our community and do whatever it takes to protect our keiki,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill. “We will hold them accountable for their heinous actions especially when they were entrusted by students and parents alike to serve as role models and not a sexual predator going after young boys.”

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Perlmutter handled the prosecution.