Honolulu Man Sentenced to 37 Months in Prison for Possessing Ammunition as a Convicted Felon

HONOLULU – Senior United States District Judge Susan O. Mollway today sentenced Tiseya Puapuaga, 27, of Honolulu and California, to 37 months in prison for possessing ammunition as a felon, to run consecutive to any State of Hawaii term of imprisonment that is imposed if revocation of his state probation occurs.

United States Attorney Clare E. Connors stated that, according to court documents and information presented in court, on December 18, 2020, the Honolulu Police Department responded to an apartment in Waikiki where Puapuaga was residing. In the apartment, police recovered a disassembled pistol, known as a ghost gun, a disassembled AR-15-type rifle, other gun parts, such as a loaded handgun magazine, and four rounds of ammunition from the living room, kitchen, and inside the oven. Ghost guns are capable of subverting application of federal firearms laws because their separate parts may be assembled in the State of Hawaii, rather than being manufactured in another jurisdiction.

Puapuaga was on probation with the State of Hawaii when the incident in Waikiki occurred. His probation status was for a 2019 felony conviction involving assault and a firearms offense related to a shooting that occurred in the Chinatown area of Honolulu. Revocation of his probation for the 2019 State of Hawaii conviction Puapuaga is pending.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders works together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develops comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Honolulu Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca A. Perlmutter.