Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On May 27, 2025, a manager at the TSM store called the Tafuna Police Station (TPS) to report two employees fighting inside their warehouse.

One of the employees was arrested and later charged with:

Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both imprisonment and fine; and,

Count 2: Private Peace Disturbance, a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $500.

According to the court affidavit, on May 27th, at about 12:23 p.m, a TSM store manager (the reporter) contacted the TPS regarding two men who were allegedly fighting inside the TSM store warehouse.

Police officers responded to the call and upon arrival at the scene, they observed the reporter separating the two men who were involved in the fight. Valentino Solofa (the suspect) was held inside the reporter’s office while the victim of the said incident was kept at the store warehouse.

The reporter was interviewed and he informed the officers that he’s the store manager. According to the reporter, the two men got into a fight and were brought in by one of the employees to his office.

Afterwards, authorities requested the store manager to bring in the victim to give a statement regarding what happened.

According to victim #1, he got into a verbal argument with the suspect about not helping out with their work duties. The victim also stated that the suspect was bossing him around. Not too long after their verbal argument, the suspect walked over to him and started getting physical with him.

Another employee (later identified as victim #2) jumped in and tried to stop them. While victim #2 attempted to stop the fight, the suspect threw a punch which landed on victim #2’s face. Victim #2 managed to later stop the fight and reported them to their manager.

Victim #2 was also interviewed where he stated that he was trying to stop the fight but ended up getting hit by the suspect. He also showed the officers his face and it appeared swollen. The officers asked victim #2 if he needed medical assistance but he refused and said he was okay.

The suspect was placed inside the police unit and transported to the TPS for further investigation. Upon arrival at the station, the suspect was Mirandized to which he understood and agreed to make a statement.

According to the suspect, he was mad because he was doing all the work while victim #1 was just hanging around. He then teased victim #1 where he then pushed one of the boxes towards him. After that, he walked over to victim #1 and threw a punch which landed on one of their other co-workers (victim #2). The suspect stated that he didn’t know that victim #2 was going to jump in to stop them.

The suspect was later booked and confined to the Tafuna Correctional Facility to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

The defendant is identified as a 21-year-old citizen of Samoa.