HONOLULU (KHON2) — In the 1980’s, John Freudenberg was an honor student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, but at 23, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after admitting to raping or attempting to rape 16 women.
Freudenberg, who was granted parole in September, is now a free man after being released from the Halawa Correctional Facility Thursday morning.
“He admitted to his crimes, got the highest possible sentence and did probably one of the longest sentences as anyone in the state of Hawaii,” said Myles Breiner, John Freudenberg’s attorney.
Freudenberg’s attorney said in the last 40-years, he hasn’t picked up a single flag for misconduct. He also completed the sex offender treatment program four times and even became a mentor to other inmates. However, one of Freudenberg’s victims said she’s still haunted by the assault and doesn’t believe he’s changed.
“So these classes that he’s been taking all of these decades I believe have not been beneficial for him, for this type of offender,” said the victim. “I’m really concerned for public safety and I don’t want anyone to go through what I did.”
The Hawaii Paroling Authority said Freudenberg will have to follow strict policies on the outside that includes the highest level of supervision under its sex offender supervision unit.
“He’s going to be on electronic monitor, he’s going to be drug tested, he’s going to be under supervision. I suspect he’ll be doing check-ins at least weekly if not, multiple times during the week,” Breiner said.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority added, Freudenberg will also have a curfew.
The State Attorney General has a website for people to look up sex offenders living in their area. There’s also the Hawaii Sex Offender Search mobile app.