Hawaii shark expert sentenced in child porn case

A well-known Hawaii shark expert has been sentenced to two months in prison for possessing child pornography.

Randy Honebrink is employed as an educational coordinator for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources where he was often called by the media whenever a shark attack occurred.

In a plea deal, Honebrink admitted that he possessed two pornographic images of children on his computer.

"He took responsibility for what he had on his computer and it's as simple as that. There have been a number of cases where they had thousands of images. In this case, he had two images," his attorney William Harrison said.

His case stemmed from an international child pornography investigation out of Canada that netted more than 500 arrests.

Harrison said the children in the pictures were not engaging in sexual activity and none of them appeared to be injured.

DLNR said he remains on the state's payroll pending his sentencing.

William J. Aila, Jr., chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, today released the following statement:

"The judge has ruled in this case. His employment status with the department will continue to be considered a personnel matter; thus, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Honebrink faced a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

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