Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man with an outstanding arrest warrant was picked up by police last month. Finauvale Aniseko is implicated in two separate drug cases.

When cops arrested the defendant, they discovered illegal drugs in his possession.

In the first case, Aniseko is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and one count of methamphetamine (meth) with the intent to distribute with bail set at $10,000. He’s facing similar charges in the second case however with bail of $5,000.

When a police officer instructed Aniseko last month in the courtroom to sign a copy of the criminal complaint filed against him, he refused, saying all the allegations against him are not true and he wanted to know why he was arrested in the first place.

The defendant is also on probation for a felony conviction in High Court from 2018 where he was convicted for burglary and stealing, where he was sentenced to 28 months in relation to burglarizing a home and a store in the Nu’uuli area.

MAN CHARGED IN SEX CASE

A man was arrested by police last month on the allegation that he raped a 16-year-old girl a few months prior.

The alleged rapist made his initial appearance in court last month.

He is charged with 4 counts of rape and 4 counts of sodomy and one charge of unlawful possession of meth; with bail is set at $25,000.

(To protect the identity of the victim, Samoa News has opted not to name the defendant.)

According to the Government’s case, in May this year, a couple requested police assistance regarding their 16-year-old daughter who had run away from home.

Furthermore, the couple told police that this is not the first time their daughter had run away. Not long after the complaint was filed, the couple informed the police they were also concerned about her relationship with a 34 year old man.

It’s alleged the victim and defendant were in contact almost every day via Facebook Messenger.

During the police interview of the young girl, in the presence of her parents, it was revealed she was in a sexual relationship with the defendant.

The victim told investigators that there were times where the defendant gave her money to buy food and clothes after they had sex.

It’s alleged that in April of this year, the defendant started calling her to come over to his house to hang out with him, and on May 1, she skipped school and went straight to his house where they spent three nights at his house.

After interviewing the victim, investigators went to the defendant’s house to speak with him, however, he was not home. He was apprehended 3 months later when police located him at a store in the Tafuna area.

Prior to transporting the defendant to the TPS for questioning, he was patted down and officers discovered a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance inside his pocket.

The defendant was previously convicted of unlawful possession of meth and was sentenced to serve 20 months at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) as a condition of his 5 years probation.