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Man charged in 2016 crime that took place at the Tafuna McDonald’s

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — One of the co-defendants in a 2016 case where the windshield of a vehicle was damaged as well as a window of McDonald’s restaurant is now in custody after being arrested last week.

Futiga Fata made his initial appearance in District Court last week.

He is charged with one count of 1st degree property damage, a class D felony, along with public peace disturbance, a misdemeanor.

Bail is set at $5,000.

The government alleges that on Nov. 6, 2016 at approximately 2:40a.m a fight broke out in the McDonald’s parking lot in Tafuna. The fight moved to Petesa and then back to McDonald’s.

Three suspects were involved in the alleged fight. There were Niu Falepau, Feleti Fata and Futiga Fata. Falepau and Feleti have already been charged in this matter.

The victim and her husband and some of their friends were at McDonald’s eating when the fight broke out. They tried to stop the fight but they couldn’t.

When someone mentioned that the police were coming, the suspects left McDonald’s. On his way out of the restaurant, co-defendant Feleti punched the window of the restaurant, damaging it.

Once in the parking lot, another co-defendant, Falepau jumped on the hood of the victim’s 2016 truck and kicked the windshield, damaging it.

The defendant, Futiga Fata punched the passenger side window of the victim’s truck, damaging it.  Multiple people on scene witnessed the damage to the truck, including the victim.

Falepau and Feleti were arrested and provided their statements to police regarding the alleged incident. In his statement, Falepau admitted to stomping on the front windshield of the truck. Feleti in his statement admitted being involved in the fight and punching the McDonald’s window.

Futiga Fata was not questioned because he had already left the territory to work on a fishing boat in Alaska prior to the investigation being completed.

The damage done to the victim’s truck included a shattered front windshield, a shattered passenger window and a dented passenger door.

The victim received two estimates for repairs to the damage to the truck —the estimate ranged from $1,795- $3,628 tor repair the damage to the truck.