Sex offender waives preliminary hearing

SANDPOINT — The owner of a defunct Sandpoint eatery is scheduled to be arraigned next month for failing to register as a sex offender.

Tyrone Makoto Yamamoto waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, essentially conceding there was sufficient evidence to bind him over to stand trial in 1st District Court on the felony charge.

Yamamoto’s arraignment is set for Sept. 8. If convicted of the charge, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Yamamoto, 50, failed to register as a sex offender upon coming to Idaho in early 2008, according to charging papers. The state of Oregon’s sex offender  registry indicates Yamamoto was convicted in Lane County of second-degree sexual abuse in 1999. The registry alleges Yamamoto targets juvenile females whom he knows.

Yamamoto acquired The Point, a popular hamburger stand on Church Street, in March, according to Idaho Secretary of State records. The business closed earlier this summer.

After it was discovered Yamamoto was here and had not registered, a $50,000 warrant was issued for his arrest this spring, according to court documents. He was apprehended in Sitka, Alaska, this summer and extradited back to Idaho.

In his application for a public defender, Yamamoto listed a Sitka address and  maintained he had no income or assets.

But Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Louis Marshall noted that Yamamoto’s ownership of The Point was left out of the application.

“The state has serious concerns about Mr. Yamamoto’s credibility in this matter,” Marshall said when a defense request for a reduced bail was discussed during Wednesday’s proceedings.

Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson said her client is a traveling sous chef with no liquid assets. She also told the court Yamamoto is the victim of embezzlement.

Marshall said Yamamoto is classified as a “high-risk offender” and opposed a reduced bail.

Judge Debra Heise declined to lower Yamamoto’s bail.

“At this point, I consider his contacts with the community insufficient to justify a reduction in bail,” she said.