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Man accused of sex crimes involving his underage female cousin

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of raping and sexually abusing his 16-year-old cousin is now in custody after he was arrested last month during a traffic stop. Illegal drugs were discovered in the defendant’s possession during the arrest.

According to the government, the alleged sexual abuse began around November of last year while the victim’s parents were off-island for medical treatment and the victim was living with her grandmother in Ottoville.

To protect the identity of the victim — a minor — Samoa News is withholding the defendant’s name.

According to the government’s case, It was the victim’s grandmother who reported the alleged incident to police after she learned about it from other grandchildren.

Investigators first interviewed the victim’s grandmother regarding the allegation before they interviewed several members of the victim’s family including the victim, her aunts, cousins and neighbors.

According to the grandmother, this is not the first time the news about this alleged incident involving her granddaughter (victim) and her grandson (suspect) had reached her. However, every time she confronted her grandson, he strongly denied the allegation, saying that all the rumors about him were not true.

The grandmother stated that when the incident first was reported to her by one of her daughters (one of the victim’s aunt’s) on the night of her birthday — which was on Jan. 24th of this year, she didn’t believe it. However, the information regarding the alleged sexual abuse alerted her and that’s when she warned the suspect not to come near her residence.

She further told police that the matter was never reported to authorities because nobody actually witnessed anything happening. She only instructed the defendant not to come around her residence anymore.

However, when she saw the defendant outside her front door speaking to one of her grandsons, she said she decided to call police because it appeared that he didn’t care about that she had told him — not to come around the house.

The grandmother also told investigators that she also contacted her daughter (victim’s mother who was off-island at the time) about the alleged incident. Her daughter told her to inform police if it’s true.

Investigators turned their investigation to the victim’s aunts, seeking facts to the case. According to one of the aunts, the matter was reported to her by her daughter (victim’s cousin) who stated to her that they found the suspect sleeping on the bed in the victim’s bedroom on the night of nana’s (grandmother) 74th birthday on January of this year.

The daughter told her mother that she didn’t see anything happen but she was just curious as to why the defendant was sleeping on the victim’s bed inside the room alone.

The victim’s aunt questioned the suspect regarding the alleged incident, but the suspect strongly denied the accusation. He told his aunt that he was looking for his phone charger for over 20 minutes and he ended up sleeping on the bed.

However, according to the aunt’s statement, after she received the same report from her daughter again two months later, that’s when she decided to approach her mother (victim’s grandmother) about the situation.

When questioned by investigators, the victim’s cousin confirmed the first incident and that it took place around 11p.m on the night of her grandmother’s (nana’s) birthday, while the family was all gathered at the guest house for the birthday dinner.

The victim’s cousins told investigators that the suspect never said anything to them. She confirmed that she found the suspect sleeping on the victim’s bed naked and when she scolded him, he just stood up, put on his clothes and then left the room. She also smelled a strong odor of alcohol in the room after the suspect left.

Investigators also interviewed one of the victim’s aunts regarding the incident.

According to the woman’s statement to police, it was on the night of the last Friday of January of this year that one of her nieces caught the defendant sleeping on the victim’s bed naked.

Two months later, the same niece found the defendant sexually abusing the victim in the same bedroom. The woman said she confronted the suspect that same evening after her niece told her what she witnessed, and the suspect allegedly admitted to it and immediately apologized for his actions.

He then begged for her forgiveness saying he’s remorseful for what he did. She further stated that prior to the January incident, the suspect was caught multiple times in the victim’s room while the victim was sleeping — including two separates incidents in December of last year.

According to the woman, there were two other incidents in December of last year, where one of her nieces found the suspect massaging the victim inappropriately while the victim was sleeping in their family vehicle, which was parked in front of the family house. When the niece intervened and told him to leave, the suspect peacefully left. The suspect was heavily intoxicated.

When questioned by police about the matter, the victim confirmed everything her aunt told authorities including that the sexual abuse started last year, with the last encounter being in March of this year, and she described the defendant as a sick person who can’t control himself when he’s drunk.

The victim told police she tried to push the defendant off, telling him he was hurting her but he continued to hold her down and perform sexual acts on her.

 According to the victim, the sexual abuse by her cousin started last year while her parents were off island for medical treatment.

The victim said she didn’t tell anyone about her encounters with the defendant because she was embarrassed and that she might be blamed for it. Furthermore, her mother was not on island and she didn’t know if her family or anyone would believe her story.

An eyewitness — a neighbor — interviewed by police said he caught the defendant standing naked outside the family house one night while the victim was sleeping in the room. The defendant was intoxicated. He said he asked the defendant what he was doing but the defendant told him to be quiet; however he reported the incident to the victim’s aunt who scolded the defendant and chased him out of the house.

The next morning, the defendant confronted him at the volleyball court and allegedly assaulted him by punching him in the face. The witness told investigators that he didn’t want to press charges against the defendant because he’s a friend.

When police went looking for the defendant he was nowhere to be found.

Then on Nov. 12, 2021 around 7:12p.m, traffic officers patrolling the Iliili public highway pulled over a pick-up for speeding. The driver was later identified as the defendant in this matter.

The defendant was apprehended and later transported to the Tafuna Police Substation for further investigation. His vehicle was also impounded by police.

During a body search, cops found two small stamp sized baggies containing white crystalline substance in the defendant’s pocket, which was later tested and the result was positive for methamphetamine (meth). Four hand rolled cigarettes containing green leafy substance which was later tested and revealed positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, were also confiscated.

After he was Mirandized, the defendant stated he understood his rights and refused to make a statement.

The defendant made his initial appearance in Court last month.

The government has filed two separate cases against him.

In the first case, the defendant is charged with two counts of rape; two counts of sodomy; and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, all felonies. He is also facing two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.

In the second case, the defendant is charged with one count of unlawful possession of meth and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, both unclassified felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five nor more than ten years, a fine of up to $20,000, or both.

Due to the severity of the allegation against the defendant, he’s being held in custody without bond.

(The defendant is not new to the court system. He has previously been convicted for stealing, various assaults and violating local drug laws.)