To date there have been six drug related cases that have been uncovered at the Fagatogo office of the United States Postal Service (USPS), however no one has been criminally charged so far.

Suspects have been arrested and placed at the Tafuna Correctional Facility for 48 hours, and upon completion of the mandatory incarceration time while awaiting police to serve arrest warrants, they are released from jail if warrants are not forthcoming.

Among these drug related cases is the largest cocaine shipment ever intercepted in the territory, which came through the USPS last year in April. Samoa News sent questions to the Attorney General’s Office for comments as to why their office has not charged the suspect in this latest case as well as those in previous cases. Deputy AG Mitzie Jessop responded that Commander of the Vice and Narcotics Unit, Captain Peau Paulo Leuma had not completed the investigation.

“As soon as it is done, we will review it for criminal charges,” she said.

Samoa News understands the police report was forwarded to the AG’s office just half an hour before the 48 hours expired for the latest case.

Ms Jessop told Samoa News that the AG's office can only prosecute drug cases— or any cases— with solid evidence. She explained that they review all cases where a 48 hour detention is made, however, “if we determine that there is not enough evidence or more investigation must be done, the AG's offices makes a decision to release the person and bring charges later.”

“While the public may be outraged that people have not been arrested after drugs came through the post office, the AG's office must make sure there is solid evidence and witnesses, not just to arrest the person, but to eventually prosecute and convict the defendant.”

“We cannot just charge people because DPS made a decision to hold them for 48 hours.”

She told Samoa News that it’s their duty to make sure there is solid evidence that will hopefully lead to a conviction.

“The criminal justice system is created where there are multiple layers, so hopefully mistakes are not made. Therefore, DPS does the investigation, interviews, and initially detains the person, but the legal training and knowledge rests with the lawyers at the AG"s office that must review all evidence to see if it will stand up in court and is enough to arrest and charge this person.

”The cases we prosecute are only as good as the police investigations,” Jessop noted, pointing out that if they receive a well written report with all of the facts supported by evidence gathered by the police, then they will file criminal charges and do their job to get a conviction.

However, “if we receive a poorly written report where there is not enough evidence to substantiate the charge, then ethically the Attorney General's Office cannot file criminal charges.”

She did confirm that “it’s correct that people who are detained for 48 hours are not charged, but that is what shows the public that the checks and balances of our system are working and that the AG's office is not simply "rubber stamping" DPS' investigations, but looking at each and every arrest and investigation to make sure that justice is achieved and that the US and American Samoa Constitutions are upheld.”

One private attorney told Samoa News that the government has a duty to evaluate the evidence and needs to have probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the person involved committed the crime.  The attorney explained, "Package cases take time to evaluate because of mistakes at the post office, large numbers of people sharing a post office box, and other factors, including the quality of police work. Hopefully the government will take its time to evaluate the cases to make sure that the evidence is in place before making a formal arrest."

BACKGROUND

Samoa News notes that in all the drug cases that have come through the Post Office since 2012, not one suspect has been criminally charged. They have been arrested and placed at the Tafuna Correctional Facility for 48 hours, and upon completion of the mandatory incarceration time, they are released from jail if arrest warrants are not forthcoming.

Among these drug related cases is the largest cocaine shipment ever intercepted in the territory, which came through the USPS last year in April. The police said the street value of the cocaine was more than $150,000. In this case, Customs Agents were checking the boxes according to procedure when they came across the suspected drugs, which were found inside soda cans.  The substance found later tested positive for cocaine and weighed in at one kilo, which is equivalent to 2.2lbs. Samoa News understands that the drugs were stashed in two Arizona Ice Tea cans and two regular Coke cans.

The suspect in this case was a Faleniu man in his 20s who was released after 48 hours, as the police were unable to criminally charge him. At the time of this case, Commissioner of Public Safety William Bill Haleck told Samoa News that that drug case is unique given that most recent drug busts have been for methamphetamine and marijuana — yet here is a cocaine case.

Another case landed a former Treasury employee behind bars for 48 hours, when he claimed a package from the post office, which contained marijuana, with an alleged street value of $10,000.  The man was placed on leave at the time of the incident, which occurred in March 2013 and has since been transferred to another department in ASG.

Another case in March 2014, involved a female in her early to mid-20s who went in to claim a parcel that was later discovered to contain two bags of SPICE, or synthetic marijuana.

The drugs were discovered during a routine inspection by Customs agents at the post office, however during interrogation, the female, a resident of Fagatogo, continuously denied having any knowledge of the package, and to date she has yet to be criminally charged.

This year February another package, to which the Customs K9 dog alerted, was picked up by a 25-year old man from Tafuna who was also arrested and later released from jail, also due to the fact that no formal charges had been filed in that case, either.  Uncovered during a routine Customs inspection, were four sandwich baggies stuffed with marijuana— with a street value of close to $20,000. The baggies were found at the bottom of the box, inside a bag.

The latest case involves a man from Ottoville who was arrested last week Monday by the Vice and Narcotics Division with the Department of Public Safety.  In his 20s, the man picked up a box containing a green substance, which tested positive for marijuana, with a street value of $15,000.

In this latest case, the Customs agents were doing a procedural inspection of packages when they came across four medium size Folgers coffee cans.  Each of the four cans was found to contain sealed baggies of marijuana, and the young man was held at the Tafuna Correctional Facility for 48 hours without bail. After the 48 hours, the government had not served him with an arrest warrant and supporting affidavit, and he was released.