His victims ranged in age from 77 to 95 years old.Vilisoni Mafi went door to door telling elderly people he would do yard work for them.
He took their money, but never touched their yards.
Now he's headed to prison.
Mafi admits to all 10 counts of theft he was charged with. "Like I said I cannot take it away, but I can do the right thing by today and forward, move forward with my life,” he said.
Mafi's crime spree took place from July of 2010 through September
In those few months he was able to net more than $2,700 from his victims, and those are just the victims who came forward.
"One of the victims actually stated in her victim impact statement that she couldn't sleep at night she was so nervous. Basically a person comes to your home, a home that you feel that you're going to be safe at and basically steals you, and lies to you and deceives you. So, basically it's a violation of trust,” said deputy prosecutor, Scott Spallina.
Spallina says this latest case highlights a trend -- all types of elderly abuse are on the rise.
In 2009 the Elder Abuse Team at the Prosecutors Office handled 57 cases.
Last year that number rose to 102.
Six weeks into this year the unit already has more than 25 cases.
"That's one reason why Keith Kaneshiro expanded the elder abuse team is for people like Mr. Mafi here. People that do target the elderly and we're talking about someone who will take multiple victims and criminalize them,” said Spallina.
Mafi's attorney says his client's trouble stems from his crystal meth addiction.
“Would miss jobs because of lack of energy because of lack of energy because he had been up all night under the influence of Crystal Meth, and he saw that it was a chance to make easy money without doing a lot of work, and it kind of snowballed into what we have in front of us,” said Mafi’s attorney, Steven Nichols.
"Anybody that does victimize elders in Hawaii is not the smartest person in the world because they have the elder abuse unit that is going to track them down,” said Spallina.
Mafi was given a five year prison term.
