Betrayal of employer leads to jail sentence

WAILUKU - After being hired by an independent Maui insurance company in 2005, Amy Pohai Waikiki was treated like family.

But in late 2006, just months after Waikiki had taken on more responsibility in Majestic Insurance Agency, "it all started to unravel," said Carole Kooy, president of the company with offices in Pukalani, Lahaina and Honolulu.

She said the company received a claim from a client who had no insurance, despite paying a premium with a check made out to Waikiki, as she had requested.

"The more research we did, the more discrepancies we found," Kooy said Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for Waikiki. "We personally reimbursed and insured every client so there was no loss from Pohai's embezzlement. What we couldn't repair was a sense of loss."

Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza ordered the 33-year-old Kihei resident to serve a six-month jail term as part of five years' probation. She also was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and to pay $28,972 in restitution to cover the stolen funds.

Waikiki had pleaded no contest to 10 counts of second-degree theft and attempted second-degree theft from January 2006 to January 2007.

Deputy Public Defender Shelly Miyashiro said Waikiki, who has four children, had been struggling financially while ending a relationship and addressing health issues. She had received financial help from a friend before he died in 2006, Miyashiro said.

But special Deputy Attorney General Ryan Shinsato said it was greed that led Waikiki to steal from those who had trusted her.

He said some businesses nearly lost state licenses because they didn't have the insurance they had paid for. And some people who thought they had health insurance were nearly denied claims, he said.

"This was the worst type of crime, the type of crime that robs a community of its trust," Shinsato said.

Kooy described how the company and its employees had tried to help Waikiki, giving her a $2,500 loan when she said her family didn't have money to bury her grandmother on Oahu.

When she reported a recurrence of cancer, the company provided a cottage where she could stay while undergoing medical treatment on Oahu and staff donated vacation and sick hours so she would continue to be paid.

The staff chose Waikiki and her children as a family in need to adopt at Christmas, Kooy said.

"There were many dramas and needs," she said.

Later, she said, staff members learned "that we all had been conned."

In court Tuesday, Waikiki turned toward the Kooys and Majestic Insurance employees and said she was sorry.

"I am not denying the fact that I should be put away for something like this," Waikiki told Cardoza. "But I'm asking for mercy for my children.

"I don't know how it would be for them to have nobody."

The judge said he would have Waikiki serve the jail term on weekends, starting Friday evening, not just because of her family but also to provide a "longer lasting lesson."

He ordered Waikiki to obtain mental health treatment.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.