HONOLULU (AP) — A 99-year-old woman who U.S. prosecutors have described as a key witness in a Hawaii corruption investigation will provide early testimony that jurors will see if she’s unavailable for trial, a judge ruled Friday.
Prosecutors want to question Florence Puana in a deposition because they are concerned about her age and health. Puana is the grandmother of Katherine Kealoha, who led a unit in the Honolulu prosecutor’s office that focused on career criminals. Kealoha and her now-retired police chief husband Louis Kealoha are accused of defrauding relatives, banks and children to maintain a lavish lifestyle. The testimony of Puana “is central to establishing one of the motives behind the charged conspiracy,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Katherine Kealoha stole money from her grandmother and uncle and when they threatened to expose the fraud, Kealoha tried to have her grandmother declared incapacitated and framed her uncle for stealing the Kealohas’ home mailbox, prosecutors have said.
The Kealohas used police resources, abused their authority and conspired with officers to frame the uncle, according to prosecutors.