A 50-year-old woman
facing federal charges for
allegedly stealing a check and credit card number from a man in his 90s is
also the suspect in a September hit-and-run that left a 75-year-old retired firefighter with a fractured skull, back and rib.
Totie Nalani Tauala, who has 14 prior state convictions including eight felonies, is a suspect in a hit-
and-run that occurred in Aiea at 10 a.m. Sept. 27, according to multiple sources. She remains in custody at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu.
Tauala, who has a conviction for manslaughter for the Aug. 21, 2002, fatal shooting Opens in a new tab of a man outside of Waipahu High School on Waipio Point Access Road, allegedly hit the retired firefighter while he was on foot behind his truck using a leaf blower.
The former captain with the Honolulu Fire Department landed on the hood of his truck and then hit the sidewalk. Tauala allegedly fled the scene without
stopping to render aid.
The victim suffered a skull and rib fracture, traumatic brain injury, lower-back
lumbar fractures and other injuries.
Tauala has not been arrested or indicted in connection with the case, and the investigation by the Honolulu Police Department is ongoing.
Tauala and Kalehuaiwilliamekamaile “Maile” Montez were charged by federal criminal complaint Opens in a new tabOct. 20 with wire fraud, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Montez pleaded not guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court, and Tauala pleaded not guilty Nov. 5 ahead of their Dec. 31 trial.
Tauala and Montez allegedly used more than $20,000 of the elderly theft victim’s money on cars, jewelry, sports memorabilia hardware and spa
treatments.
According to an affidavit authored by a Honolulu police detective working as a task force officer for Homeland Security Investigations, between Feb. 12 and March 19, Tauala and Montez
allegedly made “unauthorized purchases” at Hawaii businesses using the credit card and check from the man, a driver’s license belonging to a California woman in her 30s, and the name of an Arizona woman in her 20s who visited Hawaii in 2023.
Investigators became aware of the scheme when the man’s caregiver and daughter were contacted by a credit card company about possible fraud.
During her manslaughter trial in 2004, Tauala never denied shooting Hayward Julio, but maintained she was under extreme mental and emotional stress when she shot him in his car outside Waipahu High School.
Tauala was initially charged with second-degree murder, but the jury rendered a verdict reducing the charge Opens in a new tab to a reckless, rather than intentional, killing.
Tauala told police that on the day of the shooting in 2002, Julio held a knife to her neck while stealing
jewelry, money and drugs from her at a friend’s house in Waipahu. He later left the house in a car, and Tauala followed when Julio motioned her to pull over near the high school.
Tauala testified in her
own defense that Julio made sexual advances toward her, which brought up childhood trauma of a July 1994 sex
assault.
Tauala was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the
Julio shooting.
At the time of the Julio shooting, Tauala was illegally in possession of a firearm because she was on parole for a 1995 negligent homicide conviction. Tauala pleaded guilty in 1995 to driving under the influence and causing the death of a passenger in a November 1994 incident.
