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Construction worker robs cashier saying something in his heart said, do it

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of punching a male cashier in a store in the Tafuna area and then taking off with $400 cash and a suitcase containing essential documents and a laptop, two months ago, is now in custody after he was arrested last month pursuant to an arrest warrant from the court.

During his apprehension, cops discovered two small stamp sized baggies containing methamphetamine (meth) in his possession.

Pinati Moselini made his initial appearance in court last month.

Moselini is charged with one count of unlawful possession of meth, an unclassified felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years, nor more than ten years, a fine of not less than $5,000, nor more than $20,000, or both; one count of robbery in the first-degree; one count of stealing; both felonies; along with a class A misdemeanor charge of 3rd-degree assault.

The court set bail for Moselini at $15,000.

Preliminary examination is set for next week.

The defense attorney asked the court to reduce his client’s bail to $5,000, saying that the case against him is  just an allegation, and he has no prior record. The defense attorney further stated to the court that his client is a hard-working man who provides for his family and this family really needs him to support them financially.

The prosecutor on the other hand strongly opposed the defense’s motion. The government’s attorney told the court that the defendant’s action was very serious and he’s also a danger to the community and a flight risk too.

The court agreed and denied the defense’s motion.

THE CASE

The government claims that on the evening of Jan. 22, 2022, the owner of a store in the Tafuna area called the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS), regarding a male individual who allegedly assaulted one of his employee and stole $400 and a suitcase containing essential documents and a laptop from his store.

The male individual was later identified as Pinati Moselini, the defendant in this case.

Several police officers responded to the call and interviewed the victim.

According to the victim’s verbal statement to police, he was counting the money getting ready to close the shop, when an unknown muscular male walked in and went straight to the refrigerator at the back of the store, grabbed three large bottles of beer and two bags of chips and walked towards him and placed the items on the counter.

The man then walked over and grabbed one can of pisupo (corned beef) and walked back to him and asked for two packets of cigarettes. According to the cashier, the suspect looked like a familiar customer— but he didn’t know his name.

The cashier told the defendant that he couldn’t buy the beer because it was 10 p.m. The man argued that it was only 9:55 p.m on his watch and other times when he came to buy beer, the owner of the store allowed him to buy beers even it was after 10pm.

 As the cashier tried to explain to the defendant that the law does not allow him to sell alcohol after 10 p.m — the defendant all of a sudden shoved him and he fell to the ground while the suspect fled on foot (with the cash and the suitcase that was on the counter next to the cash register).

When he got up, he called out to his two male co-workers who were in the storeroom at the back of the store and they went outside to look for the man.

When the cashier got outside, the suspect was nowhere to be found. The victim stated that the amount of money he took was $400 even.

The victim was able to show to police footage of the incident that took place at the shop. Upon reviewing the footage, officers saw the incident unfold.

The victim did not sustain any physical injuries, so, no medical assistance was needed.

After officers gathered the information regarding the alleged incident, they then left the scene and looked for the suspect, but their search that night was unsuccessful.

The following day around 1:30p.m, officers proceeded to the scene to follow up on the case, where they were able to meet up with three different men, who identified the man in the footage.

The three men told police that the person in the footage is known as “Peanut”, who works at a construction company, owned by a man from Malaeimi. Peanut was later identified as Pinati Moselini, the defendant.

Contact was made with the construction company and they confirmed that Moselini is one of their employees, however, he was not at work on that day.

One week later after the alleged incident, officers went back to the contractor to locate the suspect, however, they were informed that Moselini was on two weeks leave due to his uncle’s funeral. Officers were told to check back on Feb. 15, that is the day Moselini was supposed to be back to work.

Officers visited the construction company again on Feb. 17 to follow up on the suspect but they were informed that Moselini had resigned and he was no longer employed by the company.

Police continued to look for him but he was nowhere to be found.

However, last month, officers received a lead from a witness that Moselini was now back at the construction company. Officers contacted the company and they confirmed that Moselini was at the compound.

 Officers proceeded to the company’s location and picked up the suspect and escorted him to the police station for questioning.

Before he was taken into custody, officers searched him for weapons or any contraband. During the search, officers discovered two small stamp sized baggies containing a white crystalline substance in Moselini’s pocket. (The substance was tested later, and was positive for meth.)

Moselini refused to make a statement to police when he was questioned, however, while waiting to be transported to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF), Moselini informed one of the officers that he wanted to make a statement about what actually happened.

According to Moselini’s statement to police, the incident happened when he first entered the store and saw that the male cashier (victim) was counting money on the counter, so he just went in and bought one large bottle of beer and went back outside.

After drinking his beer outside of the store for about 20 minutes, he then decided to go back inside to steal the money the male cashier was counting.

His account of the incident was similar to what the victim described, and included what he was feeling at the time of theft.

He said he was nervous at the time and didn’t know exactly what to do, which is why he walked to the back of the store and grabbed a can of pisupo.

“As I was walking towards the cashier,” he said, “someone was pushing my heart and said, do it right now before it’s too late. Attack him and take everything and go while nobody is watching.”

Moselini further stated to police that he needed money to buy food for him and his family. He said that after he took the money and the suitcase containing papers and a laptop, he went to his shack and hid $400 in his wallet and placed it under his mat.

He also told investigators that he was picked up by a taxi on his way home. He did not have cash to pay for the taxi, so he gave the driver the suitcase telling him that what ever is inside the suitcase was for him.

Later on he changed his statement and told officers that after he left the scene, he ran into a friend (Moselini refused to identify the friend), who let him use his cellphone to call for a taxi. He was then picked up by a taxi and he went to Mesepa, bought some groceries and then headed back to his house.

When asked about the glass pipe containing meth discovered inside his pants pocket, Moselini said the glass pipe belonged to him and he bought it from a co-worker. He refused to reveal the name of the co-worker.