Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two brothers convicted for knowingly receiving stolen property were sentenced last week.

Viliame and his younger brother Nathan Toia were ordered to serve a period of detention of 20 months, as a condition of their 5-year probation..

Viliame and Nathan have been in custody since their arrest unable to post $15,000 bonds each.

Viliame under a plea agreement with the government, pled guilty to the amended charge of conspiracy to receive stolen property from another person, a class D felony.

With his guilty plea, Viliame admits that on the night of Sept. 28, 2021 he agreed to help his brother sell electronic items including DVD players, a laptop, speakers and a 30-inch television, knowing that the items were stolen from a home in Tafeta.

Viliame further admits that the items he helped his brother sell exceeded $100 in value.

Co-defendant Nathan under a plea bargain with the government, pled guilty to receiving stolen property. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Charges against the defendants stem from an incident in the middle of last year in which the pair allegedly broke into a home and took off with personal property.

The two brothers appeared in court last week for sentencing.

In delivering its decision the court told both defendants that despite their conviction, the court has taken into consideration the fact that they are first-time offenders, they fully cooperated with the government during their investigation, and also they both are young and say they are truly remorseful from what they did.

The court sentenced the Toia brothers to a term of probation of 5 years, subject to the following conditions with which they have to abide.

Both of them were ordered to serve a period of detention of 20 months, however, the court ordered them to serve only 14 months, while the remaining 6 months was stayed, and they will be release in February of next year.