Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor is now in custody after he was arrested last month. During his arrest, cops found inside his pocket a glass pipe containing meth.

Henry Faavaemautu made his initial appearance in Court last month.

Faavaemautu is charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine (meth), an unclassified felony, along with two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of deviate sexual assault, 3 counts of 1st- degree sexual abuse, all felonies, along with one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.

Bail is set at $20,000.

THE CASE

According to the government’s case, it was on the evening of Feb. 26, 2022 when a woman and her 16-year-old daughter walked into the Tafuna Police Substation to file a complaint against a man by the name of Henry Faavaemautu of Tafuna who had a sexual relationship with her daughter.

According to the mother’s statement, their family lives in Kokoland and the alleged incident happened at her brother’s house in Tafuna, where her daughter was staying for 3 weeks in the month of February.

According to the mother, when she came home on the evening of Feb. 26, her daughter was already home and she was playing games with her other children. She asked her daughter why she had come home and her daughter told her that she was beaten up by her uncle (mother’s brother) for disobeying him.

The mother contacted her brother about what happened and her brother told her about the sexual relationship between the victim and a male, Henry Faavaemautu, who lived next door.

The brother told his sister that his wife found Henry sleeping inside the room with the victim on the night of Feb. 6. The victim’s uncle confronted Faavaemautu the next morning about what happened on the previous night and he apologized saying it was the victim who told him to come to the house.

The victim’s uncle instructed the victim not to do it again. However, on the night of Feb. 25, Faavaemautu was found inside the house again and the victim’s uncle decided to send the victim back to her mother in Kokoland.

The victim’s mother told investigators that she confronted her daughter about what happened and she admitted to her that she slept with the defendant, inside her room at her uncle’s house, more than ten times during the 3-week period she stayed there.

Investigators interviewed the victim without the presence of her mother about what happened. She confirmed that she had sexual relations with the defendant numerous times.

Investigators went to locate the defendant in this matter but he was not at the house.

Last month, investigators went back to the house and met up with a male  outside of the house, who was later identified as Henry Faavaemautu, the defendant in this matter.

He was apprehended and later transported to the TPS for further investigation. Prior to his arrest, Faavaemautu was patted down for weapons or contrabands. During a body search, investigators discovered a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance inside his pocket, which tested positive for meth.

When questioned about his relationship with the victim, the defendant admits that he had a sexual relationship with the victim. The defendant said that it was the victim who allowed him inside her room.

When questioned about the glass pipe containing meth, the defendant said the glass pipe belonged to him.

FREDDY VAIVASE

The government has charged Freddy Vaivase with one count each of unlawful possession of meth, a felony, along with one count of trespassing and public peace disturbance, both misdemeanors, for his alleged involvement in an incident that occurred on the west side last month.

During last month’s court proceedings, a motion by the defense attorney to set the defendant’s bond at $5,000 was denied by the court, due to his illegal immigration status. He was then remanded back to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) without bail.

Vaivase told his attorney that his Immigration ID is still valid until Oct. 11, 2022 however, according to a report from the Immigration Office, his ID expired two years ago. Vaivase’s wife, who is also his sponsor, left American Samoa with their two young children for Hawaii in 2019 and has not returned.

Court information states that police responded to a call from a family gathering in Petesa on a Saturday night last month, May 7, where Vaivase was allegedly causing trouble and yelling profanities. His neighbor tried to take him home but Vaivase continued shouting profanities and inviting everyone at the family gathering to come and fight him.

He was then escorted away from the area where the gathering was held, however, he eventually returned and called out again for a fight. This time, he was holding a rock.

Vaivase’s family members chased him home, where police later apprehended him. According to police, Vaivase admitted that he had been drinking, and he “reeked of alcohol.”

It was during a body search, prior to his being taken to the TPS for questioning that officers discovered a glass pipe containing meth inside his rear pant’s pocket.

When questioned about the glass pipe, Vaivase admitted it belonged to him and that he had bought it from a friend in Vaitogi.

Court records show that Vaivase has a previous conviction from 2018, for trespass and 3rd- degree assault and was sentenced to probation.

Vaivase’s next hearing is scheduled for July 31.

SEILALA AFELE

A male passenger arrested for consuming alcohol and disturbing the public peace inside an aiga bus last month is now charged with violating local drug laws when police allegedly found drugs in his possession. Seilala Afele made his initial appearance in Court last month.

Afele is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, both felonies, each will be 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 nor more than $20,000, or both, along with one count of 3rd degree assault and PPD, both misdemeanors.

Bail is set at $10,000.

During his initial appearance proceedings, defense attorney informed the court that his client requested a preliminary examination (PX).

THE CASE

On the evening of May 12, 2022 around 5:10pm, the TPS received a distress phone call from a young woman asking for police assistance regarding some male passengers who were consuming alcohol inside an aiga bus heading west on the Mesepa road.

The young woman further told police that one of the drunken male passengers also touched her thigh and her side from behind which made her feel uncomfortable. When the young woman yelled at the man to stop, the man yelled profanities at her inside the bus.

Two police units with several police officers inside responded to the call and initiated a vehicle stop near the Pava’i’ai gas station.

In the bus, officers saw two males with open alcohol containers. The passengers were later removed from the bus and officers placed them in handcuffs.

One of the passengers that was cuffed by police was identified as Seilala Afele, the defendant in this case.

Before the two male passengers were transported to the TPS for further investigation, they were all patted down for weapons and illegal drugs. Nothing was found on one male passenger and he was released to go home.

However a black pouch was found in Afele’s right pants pocket during his pat down. Inside the black pouch was a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance and a small stamp-sized baggie containing a green leafy substance.

Both substances were late tested with the white crystalline substance resulting positive for meth, and the green leafy substance resulting positive for THC, the active compound in marijuana.

Afele was Mirandized and he voluntarily made a statement to investigators about the illegal drugs found in his possession.

According to Afele, a friend of his (Afele could not remember the friend’s name) gave him the glass pipe and the baggie containing marijuana for personal use.

No mention was made in the document why the two males were not charged for consuming alcohol on the bus or that one of them allegedly sexually assaulted a woman passenger.