Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 24-year-old man accused of sexually abusing his 12-year-old cousin was arrested last week and charged.

The defendant was charged with two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, a class D felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000 or both, along with one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.

Bail was set at $15,000 and the defendant was scheduled to appear in court next week for his preliminary examination.

THE CASE

The government alleges that on the morning of July 12, 2022, a woman walked into the Central Police Station to report that her 24-year-old nephew allegedly touched her 12-year-old daughter in a sexual manner. The reporter further stated that there is more behind what happened and she wanted investigators to speak to her daughter regarding the alleged incident.

Investigators, along with the victim’s mother went to the family’s home to speak with the victim, who was at home at the time.

According to the victim’s mother, it had been 4 years since her nephew came to live with them and everything was fine within their family. However, she found something suspicious two months ago when she noticed changes with her daughter’s behavior. She confronted her daughter who said something about the defendant touching her chest and private parts inside their home several times.

The victim was transported to the Central Police Headquarters where she was interviewed by investigators.

According to the victim’s statement to investigators, her cousin (defendant) did something terrible to her by touching her inappropriately many times inside the house and after she took a shower. The victim told the defendant to stop what he was doing but the defendant did not say anything.

Around May of this year, the victim told investigators that the defendant came inside her room and sexually abused her while she was sleeping on her bed. The defendant attempted to rape her but she pushed him away. She then told the defendant to stop what he was doing before she told her mother about his actions.

The last incident happened on July 10 around 11p.m at night when the defendant forced his way inside the victim’s room and touched her inappropriately while the victim’s mother was at work.

The defendant was apprehended from his friend’s home and was taken to the Central Police Station for interview.

The defendant was Mirandized and he agreed to provide a verbal statement. According to the defendant, he did not do anything bad to the girl. He told investigators that they only played games and there was never a time where he touched his cousin in a sexual manner.

When asked about the night where he went inside the victim’s room and sexually touched her, the defendant said he went inside the victim’s room to get his phone charger.

The defendant continued to deny any wrongdoing.

He was later transported to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) where he was booked and confined. While investigators were processing the defendant, the defendant whispered to one of the female investigators, telling her he wanted to tell her something.

The female investigator pulled the defendant aside and asked him about what he wanted to share. Before he admitted to the allegation, the defendant was in tears, telling the female investigator to forgive him if he did something wrong to his cousin. He said he wanted to tell the truth about what happened.

The female investigator informed the other investigators of the new information from the defendant. The defendant was then interviewed again.

According to the defendant, the allegation against him was true and he did sexually abuse his cousin twice — inside the room and outside of the shower.