TEN TAKEN INTO CUSTODY OVER 3-DAY WEEKEND

Only ten individuals were taken into custody over the three-day New Year’s Day weekend and they all made their initial appearance yesterday in District Court, where the majority of them were released on their own recognizance, and are to appear again in court later this month.

They all face public peace disturbance charges. And as usual alcohol played a contributing factor to the PPDs from incidents that happened in Aua, Ili’ili and Fagatogo, with one case involving a man, who went home intoxicated on New Year’s Eve and allegedly, assaulted his wife.

Police report no serious problem during the long weekend; and with no roadblocks, there were no arrests for driving while under the influence of alcohol (DUI).

TONY KOME

A man accused of assaulting a homeowner in Ili’ili has entered not guilty pleas in High Court to two felony counts of second degree assault and attempted first degree burglary.

Tony Kome waived his rights to a preliminary examination hearing last Friday in the District Court and his case was then bound over to High Court yesterday, where he was arraigned and the defendant entered not guilty pleas through his attorney, public defender Michael White.

According to court information, Kome along with co-defendant Frederick Crichton and another man (whose identity is not known yet) allegedly assaulted a homeowner in Ili’ili on the evening of Nov. 12.

After the alleged assault, the homeowner, a male, was able to get into his home, according to court information, which also said that Kome and Crichton then tried to kick down the door to the home calling out to the homeowner to come out to fight or else they would burn down his house.

See yesterday’s Court Report regarding details of Crichton’s case. Both Kome and Crichton remain in custody unable to post bail. Both defendants are scheduled to appear in court early next month for their pre trial hearings.

MATTHEW BARJA

Because of new information cited in the Probation Office pre-sentencing report, the High Court has continued to later this month sentencing of Matthew Barja, while the judges conduct a thorough review of the report.

Nineteen-year old Barja appeared in court last Friday for sentencing after he pled guilty early last month to felony stealing, under a plea agreement with the government.

The defendant admitted that between Nov. 30 to Dec. 7 and 8, in 2015, as well as Jan. 1 and 2, 2016, he and two juveniles broke into Tafuna High School and stole school property such as a bag which contained forty-five iPads as well as a laptop that was inside the JROTC office. He also admitted that he took one of the iPads, which was valued at around $100.

Part of the pre-sentence report presented to the court, states that two young men, the juveniles are Samoans, who led the break-in at Tafuna High School. It was revealed in the report that Barja was born in American Samoa while his parents are from the Philippines.

And the court is concerned with Barja, of Philippine ancestry, facing the serious charge while it appear that no charges have been filed against the two Samoan juveniles and therefore questions will be raised later as to why the juveniles were not charged.

When Barja’s plea agreement was read in court early last month, Chief Justice Michael Kruse had questioned the government as to what happened to the two juveniles who were involved in the break-in with the defendant. The government responded that charges have already been filed and the case remained pending in District Court.

Barja remains in custody, unable to post bail and his sentencing has been continued to Jan. 13 so that more research and review is conducted into the pre sentence report.