Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two men accused of stealing and burglary are now behind bars after being arrested by police two months after the alleged crime.

The two men, Willie Lalovi and Morgan Vaili made their initial appearances in District Court in December.

The two defendants are each charged with one count of stealing and one count of burglary, both class C felonies, punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years, a $5,000 fine, or pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20,000, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Bail for each defendant is set at $15,000.

Both men have waived their rights for a PX and their cases are bound over to High Court.

THE CASE

The government alleges that on Oct. 16, 2021 around 6:12 p.m a man from Futiga called the Leone Police Substation (LPS) for assistance regarding an apartment he owns in Leone that had been ransacked and burglarized by some unknown individuals.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the man, who had requested police assistance.

Police investigation discloses that on an unknown date and time, the owner of the apartment, on behalf of the tenant, owner of the alleged stolen items, said the apartment was allegedly broken into by unknown individuals, who  stole several items, including a 40-inch black Samsung Smart television; Cannon Rebel T-6 camera set; Nike running shoes; Sketchers running shoes, two Samoan fine mats, a laptop and several other items.

In an interview with police, according to the victim, he arrived at his residence and found that his place had been burglarized. He told police that the last time he was at his home was on Oct. 12, 2021, which was four days prior and he had spent the weekend with his girlfriend at a hotel in the Tafuna area.

The victim stated to police that he has no idea who came into his apartment and stole his belongings. He tried to conduct his own investigation but it appeared that it would create problems with his neighbors, so he decided to leave it up to the authorities to deal with the matter.

Police then turned to neighbors to gather more information, including taking a couple and their son to the LPS for questioning. The son was interviewed in the presence of the parents and he offered essential information that helped investigators to create a list of suspects.

The son told police about being dropped off at his home by one of the village Matai because he was caught walking on the road during curfew hours. It was at 1:30 a.m, while inside the house watching TV, he heard a car pull up in front of his house.

He identified the truck as Vaili’s truck, and Lalovi jumped out from the truck and had in his hands what appeared to be two Samoan fine mats, which the witness said Lalovi told him to hold onto, before Lalovi left and walked towards his home.

Lalovi is the witness’s cousin who lives about 50-60 yards from the witness’s house, and about 40 yards from the victim’s house.

He also stated that on the same day he took the fine mats to Vaili’s house around 6 a.m and told Vaili that Lalovi gave him the two fine mats to keep but he didn’t want his mother to know about it. So, he decided to give him (Vaili) the two fine mats to keep.

Police officers tried to locate Lalovi, and then Vaili on the same day — both were not home at the time.

The next morning, the case was transferred from the Patrol Division to the Criminal Investigation Division for further investigation. However, the case was later forwarded to the Vice and Narcotics & K-9 Unit for continued investigation.

On Oct. 17th, both the witness and his mother were brought into the LPS for a second interview with investigators of the Vice and Narcotics Unit, regarding their statements given to the police officers, who conducted the initial interview.

The witness’ written statement, apparently differed in certain details from his initial interview. According to the witness’s written statement, he was specifically asked by Lalovi to hide the fine mats at his house, and if asked who owned them, to just say they belonged to Saili. Later in the morning, he met up with Saili, who told him to take the fine mats he got from Lalovi and give them to him. The witness wrote he went to his house and got the fine mats and took them straight to Saili’s home.

The witness’s mother also provided a written statement to investigators of what she knew about the matter, including that she asked her son who owned the fine mats and her son told her that they came from Lalovi.

On the same day, investigators were able to locate Saili at his house and transported him to the LPS for questioning.

According to Saili’s statement to investigators, he and Lalovi have known each other since they were young. And despite Lalovi later serving time in TCF for burglary, and Saili’s father not allowing Lalovi in their home, Saili and Lalovi continued to be friends.

He said that on the 2nd Sunday of October, he received a call from Lalovi asking for a ride to Pavaiai to drop off “ie toga” at his uncle’s house and he would pay for the gas.

Saili stated that he went with Lalovi and some other kids to drop off the fine mats in Pavaiai, where a man took the fine mats and gave Lalovi $150. Lalovi then gave him $20 for gas. Later on that day, Lalovi came by his house and gave him some other items.

On Nov. 20, Saili returned a power washer to the LPS saying that Lalovi also gave it to him for payment for fixing his dad’s car. This particular power washer was taken from another burglary case in Futiga. The power washer was later returned to the owner and confirmed to investigators that the power washer belonged to him.

On Nov. 17th, a man from the Leone area contacted the LPS informing them about some information he knew about a burglary, which involved two young men from the neighborhood.

The man further told police that he had some stuff that Lalovi sold him and he wanted police to visit his home so that he could give them the stuff because he believes it was stolen.

Police arrived at the man’s house and retrieved the items, which seem to match certain items stolen from the apartment in Leone — one pair of Nike shoes (white color); two fine mats; a clock; a black pouch with a Cannon camera with accessories and a HP laptop

The next day, Lalovi was picked up by investigators in front of his home and was arrested pursuant a separate warrant from the High Court. He was transported to the LPS for questioning.

When asked about the burglary case, Lalovi shook his head, and later chose to not make any statement to police after he was Mirandized. 

Lalovi was booked and detained at the TCF, while police continued the investigation.

On the morning of Dec. 12th, investigators went to Lalovi’s home and met up with his grandmother, who gave police consent to search their house after she was informed about the reason for police presence.

Lalovi’s grandmother showed investigators Lalovi’s room and investigators found and confiscated a 40-inch Samsung flat screen TV; one Apple iPad; a laptop; one external drive; one digital slave flash and a black suitcase.

All these items were later confirmed to belong to the tenant of the apartment in Leone.

Two days later Vaili (co-defendant) was brought into the LPS for questioning.

Vaili told investigators that he was with Lalovi on the night Lalovi broke into the house in Leone. He only pulled security, while Lalovi broke into the house. Later on that day they sold the stolen items to a man using Saili’s car.

According to the government, they will also be looking at those who received stolen items.