Man, 27, sentenced to more than 3 years for possessing ammunition

A 27-year-old man was sentenced Monday to three years and one month in federal prison after he was found guilty of possessing ammunition as a felon in connection with the search of a Waikiki apartment where police recovered so-called ghost guns.

Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Tiseya Puapuaga, 27, of Honolulu and California, to 37 months to be served consecutively to any term of imprisonment he receives should his state probation be revoked, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

On Dec. 18, 2020, Honolulu police searched an apartment in Waikiki where Puapuaga was living. Officers found a disassembled pistol, a disassembled AR-15-type rifle, a loaded handgun magazine and four rounds of ammunition in the living room, kitchen and inside the oven.

Ghosts guns are manufactured in parts and sold online as DIY kits, with no requirement for a background check.

“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,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors in the news release.

Puapuaga was on probation at the time of the Waikiki incident for a 2019 felony conviction in connection with a 2017 shooting in front of Maunakea Liquor & Grocery in Chinatown. His probation revocation is pending.

The federal case against Puapuaga was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative aimed at reducing violent crime, according to the release.