Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A young man accused of burglarizing a home in Leone and stealing two cell phones, a laptop, an iPad, two pairs of shoes and a wallet with over $450 inside it is now in custody after police officers arrested him last month pursuant to an arrest warrant signed by the court.

The defendant, Anthony Matatia, along with his male cousin, a juvenile who is identified in the court affidavit as J.P are the two individuals allegedly involved in this case.

On May 30, 2021 around 7:32a.m, a 42-year-old man who identified himself to police as Maeli Sopa, the victim in this case, called the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) and requested police assistance immediately at his house, which was allegedly burglarized by two young males, who stole several items including his money.

The victim further told police that the two young males forced their way into his home, damaging his back door and window and burglarized it.

Several police officers responded to the call and Sopa was interviewed at the scene where he told officers that his house was robbed in the morning and he described items that were missing, including his wallet containing $450. He further stated that a person named J.P, a juvenile, told him that he and his cousin by the name of Anetone, a.k.a Anthony Matatia (defendant) allegedly burglarized his house while he was away.

According to the victim’s statement to police, when he returned to his house around 6a.m, he found it had been broken into and items stolen. He said two adult females walking on the road at the time, told him that they saw an adult male with a juvenile male exit the house carrying some items and quickly run to the other side of the road. The two women also mentioned Anthony Matatia’s name to Sopa because they knew Matatia’s parents.

The two women also provided to the victim the description of the males who allegedly burglarized his home along with the color of the clothes they were wearing that morning.

Investigators proceeded to Matatia’s home to question him regarding the alleged burglary. Matatia told them that he and J.P were hanging out in front of J,P’s house on the night of May 29th when J.P laid out a plan to burglarize the Sopa home.

They both agreed with the plan and waited until the next morning when Sopa left to drop his girlfriend off at work, so that they could go to the house and execute their plan. They did so the next morning (May 30) — breaking in through the back door, with J.P. entering, while Matatia acted as a lookout.

Matatia told investigators that a few moments after J.P entered the house, he came back and told him what he had seen. Matatia instructed J.P to go back in and get the items, which he did. They then went home.

Matatia told investigators that J.P took two cell phones and the iPad while he took the laptop and two new pairs of sport shoes. He also gave J.P $200 and kept the rest of the money.

However, when investigators interviewed J.P in the presence of his mother, he told investigators that Matatia only gave him $50 and took all of the stolen items and instructed him to wait until he sell all the items so that he (Matatia) could give him (J.P) more money.

J.P told investigators that it was Matatia who initiated the plan to burglarize Sopa’s home after he (Matatia) stated that he needed money to buy some “stuff” and beer. He admitted that he (J.P) entered the house while Matatia acted as a lookout.

According to J.P, he at first refused to go inside the house because he was scared, however, Matatia told him that it’s better for him (Matatia) to act as a lookout because he knows how to act if someone walks by.

J,P further stated to investigators that after Sopa questioned him about the burglary, he (Sopa) went to Matatia’s house and allegedly assaulted Matatia.

Investigators questioned Sopa again regarding the allegation that he assaulted the defendant.

Sopa told investigators after he received word from the two women that it was Matatia and a juvenile boy who allegedly burglarized his home, he went straight to the juvenile’s house and confronted him regarding the incident. Before he spoke to the juvenile, he grabbed his neck out of anger and slapped him in the face multiple times. That’s when the juvenile told him that it was Matatia’s plan to burglarize his home.

He then went to Matatia’s home, but found him standing in front of a store. He pretended that he didn’t know anything. After he got his shopping, he asked Matatia to help load his shopping inside his vehicle. He then invited Matatia to come with him to his house to have a cup of coffee.

Once they got inside his house, he started to question Matatia about the incident where he and J.P broke into his house. While Matatia was trying to explain his side of the story, Sopa started throwing punches at his face about 6 times while he was still sitting in the chair in the victim’s living room.

Both Matatia and J.P were taken to TPS for questioning.

Before he was taken into custody, Matatia was patted down and police discovered two small baggies containing white crystalline substance in his pants pocket, along with two stamp sized baggies containing green leafy substance in his rear pocket.

Nothing was found on the juvenile.

When asked about the illegal drugs found in his possession, Matatia told police that the illegal drugs belonged to him. He bought the drugs from a man who is selling in the area, known by the name of Chico.

Matatia apologized to the police for his actions and stated that the reason he instructed his juvenile friend to break into their neighbor’s house was to get money or anything they could sell to buy beer and drugs.

J.P was later taken to the LBJ Medical Hospital for treatment.

Matatia made his initial appearance in court last month.

The government has filed two separate cases against Matatia.

In the first case, Matatia is charged with one count of 2nd degree burglary and one count of stealing, both class C felonies, punishable by imprisonment of up to 7 years, 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 $20,000, or both such fine and imprisonment for each crime.

In the second case, Matatia is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and one count of marijuana possession, both unclassified felonies, punishable by imprisonment from 5-10 years, a fine of $30,000 or both.

Bail is set at $15,000.