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A 54-year-old Hawaii island woman was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison Monday for ripping off a terminally ill Kau man who had hired her as his in-home caregiver.
Terri Lee K. Pascua pleaded guilty to bank fraud in February for forging the man’s signature on blank checks she had stolen from him. Pascua made the checks payable to herself. She also admitted diverting money from the man’s credit union account.
U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Pascua to the 15 months and ordered her to repay First Hawaiian Bank the $16,672 she stole from the victim’s account.
Mollway gave Pascua until Sept. 9 to begin serving the prison term to give Pascua’s doctor enough time to present her medical record to federal prison officials to assure she gets placed into a facility that can address her health problems. Her attorney declined to say what kind of health problems she has, and court documents did not specify.
In the meantime, Pascua must stay in a halfway house on Oahu after Mollway revoked her release on bail Monday for failing to inform court officials that she had moved. Mollway also revoked bail because Pascua violated the terms of her post-plea release in the state courts on theft charges by not telling state officials she was being prosecuted in federal court.
Pascua pleaded guilty in 2010 to theft and other charges for issuing personal checks at Costco’s Kona Warehouse from an account that was already closed. A state judge imposed a suspended one-year jail term and ordered Pascua to repay Costco $9,404, write the store a letter of apology and perform 300 hours of community service. The judge granted her a five-year deferral of her guilty pleas.
Defense lawyer Shanlyn Park told Mollway that there is a state warrant for Pascua’s arrest but that the U.S. Marshals Service will not act on it.
The federal government says the Kau man hired Pascua in January 2012. By early February, Pascua had attempted to steal $19,780 from the man’s accounts but was able to steal only $16,672. The man died last year.
