Woman convicted of arson in 2022 sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday | News, Sports, Jobs

Krystale Kaneakua (right) and her court-appointed attorney John Parker (left) attend a sentencing hearing in Wailuku on Tuesday. Kaneakua was sentenced by a jury of her fellow citizens to 10 years in prison for second-degree arson. Photo: Ryan Mitchel Collins/ The Maui News

WAILUKU – Two people have been convicted of arson in connection with wildfires that burned the week of May 12, 2022. Both people were sentenced to prison for their roles in the fires.

John Hlis, 34, of Haiku was convicted of second-degree arson on June 4, 2024, and received one year in prison and four years probation, according to the sentencing order issued by Second District Court Judge Peter T. Cahill.

Hlis' accomplice and co-defendant in the Puunene Fire the week of May 12, 2022 was Krystale Kaneakua, 33, of Pukalani. Kaneakua was arrested on May 13, 2022 in connection with the Puunene Fire. Kaneakua was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for second-degree arson, with the possibility of a parole hearing. “in about six months”, Cahill said this at the sentencing hearing on Tuesday in Wailuku.

Prosecutors sought a 10-year prison sentence, and defense attorney John Parker asked Cahill to sentence Kaneakua to a one-year prison term, similar to the sentence Hlis received in June.

“In the course of this trial, we have learned a lot about how the defendant thinks and acts,” Said Deputy District Attorney Johann Smith. “We learned in this trial that she only cares about herself and what she wants. She is willing to put people at risk of death and injury and property at risk of destruction and believes she will get what she wants. She thought that starting a wildfire on a busy highway would help her. Her boyfriend Steven Sarol was being pursued by police and was about to be arrested. She did not want him arrested, so she hatched a plan. She devised a plan to distract the police and lure them away from Steven by starting a raging, out-of-control wildfire that the police could not ignore.”

Hlis pleaded guilty and admitted during the trial that he had started the fire. Unlike Kaneakua, who was found guilty by a jury of her fellow activists.

“You (Kaneakua) are here today to demand justice, but the verdict is not about justice, Mr. Parker, it is about justice.” said Cahill.

“The verdict must reflect the punishment for the crime committed in this case,” said Cahill. “And the crime that was committed was horrific. The potential impact on our community, now that we know for sure what can happen when a fire is set in a field… and the wind blows in a certain direction, can result in massive death and destruction.”

Smith and Cahill praised a civilian witness who identified Kaneakua during the fire and was present throughout the trial to testify about what he saw.

“I take full responsibility for being here,” Kaneakua said this in her statement to the court before Cahill announced his verdict. “I'm sorry for causing so much pain in the community. I miss my family. I miss my children. They miss me too.”

Hlis and Kaneakua were caught on surveillance camera purchasing a can of gasoline, lighter fluid, charcoal and Lysol at Safeway on Hookele Street shortly before the bushfire that broke out on May 12, 2022.