Florence Puana, the grandmother of Katherine Kealoha, the convicted former deputy city prosecutor who defrauded her, died Thursday at the age of 100.
Puana served as a key witness in the federal criminal trial against Kealoha and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, in which they were charged with a series of felonies for trying to frame Puana’s son, Gerard Puana, for the theft of the couple’s mailbox.
The Kealohas and two police officers who helped them in the conspiracy were found guilty by a 12-member federal jury in June. Sentencing is expected to take place in March.
Puana testified in a six-hour deposition, which took place several weeks before the trial began because of her ailing health. That deposition was played on video during the trial. Puana cried when a federal prosecutor asked her about her relationship with her granddaughter. “She was a loving, loving gentle person and I trusted her,” said Puana.
Federal prosecutors linked the frame job to a reverse mortgage scheme that Katherine Kealoha had roped her grandmother into. Kealoha then used the money for personal expenses.
Puana was forced to sell her home.
Florence and Gerard Puana sued over it, which prosecutors said was the motive behind the mailbox frame job. It threatened to ruin the Kealohas’ image in the community and possibly expose their financial crimes.
A state judge sided with Kealoha in that suit, awarding her about $658,000, and about $108,000 was garnished from Florence Puana’s bank account to cover attorney’s fees. However, a new trial was granted in that case in November last year.
Puana was born on Maui in 1919. She turned 100 in August 2019.
“She was a very loving person and a very strong willed person,” said Alexander Silvert, a federal public defender who represented Gerard Puana. “And it was wonderful that she got vindicated by her truth being out there.”
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