Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man was arrested and was taken into custody after drugs were allegedly discovered inside his vehicle when police pulled over his vehicle during a traffic stop in Tafuna for speeding on June. 20, 2022, early morning.

Officers approached the driver of the vehicle and informed him about the reason why his vehicle was stopped. The driver of the vehicle was later identified as Luteru Sema, the defendant in this matter.

According to the officers’ verbal statement to investigators, as they spoke with Sema they observed two cut-up straws on the vehicle floor, along with several empty stamp-sized baggies commonly used to sell methamphetamine (meth) and marijuana.

Officers informed Sema about the purpose of the stop and asked him about the paraphernalia seen inside his vehicle. Sema looked down for a moment before he replied to officers by saying that the vehicle does not belong to him and he had no idea about the paraphernalia. Sema looked scared and made a lot of movements while sitting in the driver’s seat.

When asked for his driver’s license, Sema told officers he did not bring his wallet with him. The officers immediately detained Sema and impounded his vehicle at the TPS  for further investigation.

Officers also conducted an inventory search of the vehicle in the presence of Sema. During the search, Sema volunteered to the officers that there were drugs inside the vehicle that did not belong to him.

Officers discovered a glass pipe with a usable amount of a white crystalline substance inside, a hand rolled marijuana joint and a small stamp-sized baggie containing a white crystalline substance inside.

The evidence was referred to Vice & Narcotics detectives for further investigation.

Detectives interviewed Sema after advising him of his rights.

According to Sema, on the previous day, he went to help his friend with his plantation in Kokoland. After the hard work on that day, his friend handed him a small black pouch containing all the stuff that was found inside the vehicle.

Sema made his initial appearance in District Court last month.

He is charged with one count of unlawful possession of meth, a felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five nor more than ten years and a fine of not less than $5,000 note more than $20,000, or both; and one count of possession of marijuana, a class A misdemeanor publishable by a term of imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000.

AMATO MANUELE

A man accused of attempted rape and unlawful possession of drugs was arrested by police last month.

Amato Manuele, 32, made his initial appearance in District Court last month.

Manuele is charged with one count of unlawful possession of meth, a felony, punishably by imprisonment from 5 to 10 years, a fine of up to $20,000 or both; along with one count of attempted rape and one count of 1st- degree sexual abuse, both class D felonies punishable by up to 5 years in jail, a $5,000 or both.

Bail is set at $25,000.

THE CASE

On June 13, 2022, a woman contacted the TPS for help saying that a man accused of sexually abusing her 16-year-old daughter was disturbing the peace in front of her home in Tafuna.

The woman further stated to police that the man was also making threatening remarks towards her family and she’s worried because her husband and two sons might do something bad to the suspect.

Several police immediately responded to the call and observed two males arguing in front of a house in the Tafuna area. The two men were later identified as the defendant and the reporter’s husband.

The reporter’s husband was holding down the suspect by the neck in the front of the house while the suspect was screaming and yelling profanities and making threatening remarks towards the family.

Police got the matter under control and immediately placed the suspect inside a police unit before interviewing the woman who reported the matter. Before the suspect was placed inside the police unit, he was searched for weapons.

During the pat down, police discovered a glass pipe containing a white substance inside his pant’s pocket. The glass pipe was confiscated by police and detectives of the Vice & Narcotics Unit were also informed regarding the alleged illegal drugs.

When questioned by police, the reporter said that she confronted the defendant after her daughter told her about an incident that had occurred two days prior, where the defendant allegedly forced his way into their house, went straight to the living room where her daughter was sleeping and sexually abused her by touching her inappropriately before he attempted to rape her while she was sleeping on the couch.

The woman further stated to police that when she questioned the suspect about what her daughter told her, not only did he strongly deny it but he also shouted profanities at her and accused her daughter for making up false allegations against him.

The suspected also threatened to kill the victim’s family and refused to leave the land after he was instructed several time to get off of the land.

The reporter told police that as she was speaking with the suspect, their family vehicle pulled up and her husband and son arrived home from work. Her husband saw what happened and immediately handled the situation.

Police questioned the victim, a 16-year-old girl, who echoed her mother’s statement. The victim told police that she first met the suspect at church.

During the interview, investigators discovered that there was an active arrest warrant under the defendant’s name regarding his involvement in a burglary case from Tafeta last year.

When asked questioned about the burglary case, the defendant did not respond. He was then served with the copy of the warrant.

NIKOLAO LIO

A 30-year-old man from Tafuna accused of assaulting another man has been arrested and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, punishable by not more than 5 years imprisonment, and/ or a fine of not more than $5,000 or both; and two misdemeanor charges, unlawful use of a weapon and public peace disturbance.

The charges against Nikolao Lio stem from an incident that occurred last month in Tafuna, where he allegedly used a brick to assault and severely injure another man for allegedly breaking into his sister’s home in Faleniu.

According to the police report, Lio and the victim got into a disagreement regarding the burglary at his sister’s house. The incident escalated with the victim allegedly assaulting Lio and in turn Lio assaulting the victim by striking the victim’s head with a brick.

The victim ran for help while Lio followed him in an attempt to strike him again.

Lio was apprehended from his girlfriend’s house two days after the incident and was transported to the TPS for questioning. When questioned about the alleged incident, he admitted using a brick to assault the victim by striking his head twice.

Lio apologized to investigators for breaking the law. He also stated that he’s very sorry for what he did to the victim because the victim is a close friend of his and he considered him a brother.

Lio made his initial appearance in Court last month and bail was set at $10,000.