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After alleged burglars turn on each other cops hear two different stories

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ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two men accused of burglarizing a home in Happy Valley two months ago were arrested and are now in custody, with bail set at $15,000 each.

Misiolo Toga and Dave Tagaloa made their initial appearances in District Court last month.

The government has filed two criminal cases against Toga.

In the first case, Toga is charged with second degree burglary and stealing, both class C felonies, punishable by up to 7 years in jail, a $5,000 fine or, pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20K, or both such fine and imprisonment.

In the second case, he is charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine (meth) and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, both felonies.

Tagaloa is charged with second degree burglary and stealing, both class C felonies, punishable by up to 7 years in jail, a $5,000 fine or, pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20K, or both such fine and imprisonment.

In a separate case, Tagaloa is charged with stealing and 2nd degree burglary, both class C felonies.

Preliminary examination for both defendants is scheduled for this coming week.

THE CASE

On the early morning of Sept. 2nd, 2021, a woman called police to report that her home had been burglarized. When cops arrived, they observed that several bedrooms had been ransacked and a safe was found under the porch.

According to the caller, on Sept. 1st, she asked her daughter to check on their house to make sure it was secure. The woman said she and her daughter and her husband went to the house and everything was squared away. They closed the steel fence and locked it.

The next morning, Sept. 2nd the woman’s daughter and her husband returned to the house and noticed that the screen door was locked from the inside. They inspected the property and found the back door was damaged and the house had been ransacked.

Several police officers responded to the call. One week later, officers spoke to an eyewitness who stated that two young men approached him a week ago and asked for a cigarette and a lighter. He gave it to them, and they then returned to a vehicle parked in front of the victim’s house.

The eyewitness told officers that the vehicle was a white pick-up, and gave its license plate number. Officers tracked down the plate of the vehicle and discovered that the vehicle is registered under the name of Siaki Williams of Vaitogi.

Officers contacted Williams and informed him about the situation. Mr. Williams agreed to come to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) for further discussion on the matter.

According to Williams, the vehicle belongs to him and was used by a church family friend for their birthday party. He provided the names of the couple from their church who borrowed the vehicle and officers were able to contact them regarding the situation, and they agreed to come to the TPS for further discussion on the matter.

Officers questioned the couple and they confirmed that they borrowed the vehicle belonging to the Williams family for five days, starting from Aug. 29 - Sept. 4. According to the couple, it was their daughter’s boyfriend, Misiolo Toga who drove the vehicle on the night of Sept. 1st.

Toga was brought into the TPS for questioning and the witness was also present to confirm to officers that Toga was one of the two young men who approached him for a cigarette.

When questioned, Toga admitted that he and another male by the name of Dave Tagaloa robbed the home, and they sold some of the stolen items while other items were still at his place.

Before Toga was interviewed, a body search was carried out, and police found a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance, which tested positive for meth. When asked about the glass pipe, Toga said it was a gift from one of his friends in Iliili after he gave him several power tools that he had stolen from the Futiga home.

Toga further stated to investigators that it was Tagaloa who broke the back door to the house and stole everything from inside while he was standing outside as a lookout.

According to the victim, a male came by and returned several stolen items to her, saying the items were bought from Toga at an unknown day and time. The man told police that on Sept. 4th, he received a pair of shoes and a laptop from Toga.

Two days after Toga was arrested, police responded to a public peace disturbance case in Vaitogi where two heavily intoxicated men assaulted a man outside of his store.

Cops arrested both men involved and transported them to the TPS for further investigation. One of the men arrested on that day was Dave Tagaloa, the co-defendant in this matter.

When questioned by police regarding the burglary incident on the night of Sept. 1st, Tagaloa admitted that he and his friend “MISTY” a.k.a Misiolo Toga broke into a house and stole several items.

Investigators told Tagaloa that according to Toga’s statement, he (Tagaloa) initiated the plan to burglarize the house. Toga claimed Tagaloa broke the back door of the house to gain entry and while he was inside, Toga was standing outside as a lookout.

Tagaloa disagreed. He told investigators that after he broke the back door, Toga went inside the house while he went to the back of the house to collect copper wire lying at the back of the house. He told investigators that he wanted to take the copper wire with them to sell it to a businessman in Malaeimi for cash to buy drugs.

When questioned about the whereabout all of the items they stole from the home, Tagaloa said his friend Toga took most of the stolen items while he only took the copper wire and a few items.

Tagaloa is also charged with misdemeanors charges along with his co-defendant from the case where they allegedly assaulted a man in Vaitogi.