Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On February 7, 2025, an employee of Nana’s Construction Company walked into the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report an alleged burglary at one of their construction sites, located in Happy Valley.

The suspect was later arrested and charged with Count 1: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by imprisonment not to exceed seven years, a fine of not more than $5,000, or both imprisonment and fine.

The defendant’s bail was set at $5,000.

According to the court affidavit, on Feb 7th, at approximately 10:49 a.m., a man reported a theft at one of their company’s construction sites in Happy Valley.

According to the reporter, he received a call from a taxi driver claiming that he witnessed “a theft two nights ago”. The reporter also brought the taxi driver into the TPS to make an official statement regarding the allegations.

The officers met with the taxi driver (witness #1) and took his statement.

According to witness #1, on Feb. 5, 2025 at around 6:30 p.m., he received a call from a passenger for pick-up in Fagaima. Upon arrival in Fagaima, two men entered the taxin and stated that they were headed to Happy Valley where the pastor’s house is under construction.

Upon arrival at the construction site, the witness stated that he saw the men load bricks into his taxi. He told the men that they would be charged for the bricks to be transported to which they replied they were fine with it and continued to load the bricks.

After loading the bricks, they returned to Fagaima and the two men unloaded the bricks onto another vehicle that was parked in front of one the men’s residence.

After unloading the bricks, he got his payment for the use of his taxi and he returned to the taxi stand. Upon arrival at the taxi stand, he told his colleague about what had happened and then he went home.

After interviewing the witness, the officers proceeded to locate the suspects Mr. Vaiuta Lelea’i and Mr. Ete Aumua at their place of residence that was shown by the witness.

Officers successfully located the suspects late afternoon when they were informed by Lelea’i’s family that the suspects were at another family’s house in Pavaiai and pointed out the location of the suspects.

When the officers arrived in Pavaiai, they observed a house that was under construction and there were a couple of bricks near the site. Police officers met with a man who identified himself as Ete Aumua, and Aumua pointed out where Lelea’i was standing.

Both men were requested to come into the TPS for an interview regarding a matter that was reported. They both agreed to go to the TPS. Upon arrival at the station, both parties were placed in separate rooms for interview.

Suspect #1, Aumua was informed of the reported burglary and that the construction company had filed a complaint against both of them. Before the officer could elaborate, Aumua uttered that he has the bricks that he stole on Wednesday night and has not used them.

The officers immediately stopped the interrogation and Mirandized suspect #1 to which he said he understood and asked to make a statement.

According to Aumua’s verbal statement, he was at Lelea’i’s (suspect #2) house on Wednesday evening. Lelea’i went to sleep while he called a taxi to pick him up. When the taxi arrived, he told the taxi driver that he wanted to go to Happy Valley at his place of work to pick up some stuff and he went alone with the taxi driver. When they arrived at the construction site, he asked the taxi driver to assist him in carrying the bricks.

The taxi driver then told him that it is a dollar per brick and he agreed and began loading the bricks into the taxi.

Aumua explained that they drove back to Lelea’i’s house and unloaded the bricks onto Lelea’i’s vehicle. After unloading the bricks, he paid the taxi $40.00 because the driver counter 40 bricks.

After the taxi driver left, he asked permission from Lelea’i’s family to use their vehicle so he could drop off the bricks at home. However, he did not go home but he went to Pavaiai where they had a side job. He dropped off the bricks there and counted them — which was only 28, not 40.

He then went back to return Lelea’i’s vehicle and asked his daughter to drop him off at home. Aumua also informed the officers that he did what he did to provide for his family and put food on their table.

Lelea’i was also interviewed and he stated that he had no knowledge from where Aumua got the bricks. He explained that he asked Aumua numerous times from where got the bricks, and he stated it was from his house. Lelea’i also stated that he does not know how Aumua got the bricks to Pavaiai or anything about what he did.

The affidavit further stated that another eyewitness came forward — Lelea’i’s daughter’s boyfriend — and alleged that he saw Aumua steal the bricks and transport them to Pavaiai. The boyfriend walked into the TPS and claimed that he was present. during the time all these items were stolen.

He stated that on Monday ( February 3, 2025) night, Aumua asked Lelea’i to borrow his truck to pick up some stuff from his house. Lelea’i then instructed him to go with Aumua to get his stuff. He went with Aumua to Happy Valley at a construction site and picked up about 9 cement bags and dropped them off ay his house.

Then on Feb. 5th, around 6:00 p.m., Aumua was at their house in Fagaima, where upon he called a taxi and when the taxi arrived, he asked for help in getting his stuff from his house. Lelea’i told him (the boyfriend) to go with Aumua and help him with his stuff. When they left the house in the taxi, he noticed that the taxi was going the wrong way but he heard Aumua telling the driver to go to Happy Valley.

When they arrived at Happy Valley, Aumua exited the vehicle and started loading the bricks into the taxi. After loading the taxi with bricks, Aumua told the driver to go back home where they came from.

When they arrived at Lelea’i’s home they unloaded the bricks onto Lelea’i’s vehicle and paid the taxi driver. Aumua then asked them to drop him off at Pavaiai — which they did. The house in Pavaiai is the house that Aumua and Lelea’i were working on.