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Cops find meth & marijuana after big bag of litter was tossed from vehicle

American Samoa High Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On the night of Aug. 21, 2020, two police officers observed Mark Fuluasou throwing a black plastic bag out of a vehicle in which he was riding, in front of an Asian store in Malaeimi. They picked up the black plastic bag that Fuluasou threw out and discovered that it was full of trash — and something else.

Officers followed the vehicle and pulled it over, however, before the vehicle came to the side of the road, they observed the driver throwing something else out and discovered that it was an empty soda can.

Fuluasou was the passenger. (Samoa News is withholding the driver’s name, as he is yet to be criminally charged. Cops issued a citation to the driver.)

The cop who picked up the black plastic trash bag searched the bag and discovered a small plastic container inside. The officer opened the container and found a stamp-sized baggie containing a white crystalline substance, and another plastic baggie containing green leafy substance.

Both Fuluasou and the driver were taken in for questioning. The vehicle was also impounded but later released to Fuluasou’s uncle who was present during the interview. According to the government, the vehicle belongs to Fuluasou’s uncle.

When asked about the meth and the marijuana found inside the small plastic container that was inside the black plastic bag, Fuluasou told police it belonged to him, that he bought it off a couple of guys in iliili, but he didn’t know their names, only that they usually walk around the area selling meth and weed.

Fuluasou told police there was nothing illegal in the vehicle. An inventory was carried out, in the presence of both Fuluasou and his uncle. Police found several empty small stamp-sized baggies commonly used to sell meth, along with 4 empty cut up straws and a broken glass pipe with nothing inside.

The green leafy substance tested positive for marijuana and the white crystalline substance yielded positive results for meth.

According to the government, Fuluasou allegedly admitted to police that both the marijuana joint and the glass pipe belonged to him, and he bought the meth baggie from a friend in Filifili earlier that day. Furthermore, he had been drinking and had taken two puffs off the marijuana joint.

Fuluasou made his initial appearance in District Court where he waived his right to a preliminary examination. He is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine; one count of unlawful possession of marijuana — both felonies.

Bail is set at $10,000.

During arraignment in High Court earlier this month, Fuluasou pled ‘not guilty’ to the charges against him. Pretrial conference is Nov. 7, 2020