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A man with a familiar name around the courthouse is now back in court for burglary and assault charges

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Nichlous Nauer made his initial appearance in District Court last week. He is charged with 7 counts including one count of 2nd degree burglary, a class C felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both; along with 6 counts of 3rd degree assault, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Bail is set at $20,000.

THE CASE

The government alleges that on Oct. 30th, 2021, a businessman contacted the Leone Police Substation (LPS) regarding his friend, who called him and informed him that a person by the name of Nichlous Nauer broke into his home.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the caller and the victim while other officers were patrolling the area in an effort to locate Nauer.

While patrolling the Puapua area, Nauer was observed sitting on his bike in front of a store in the Puapua area. Officers approached Nauer and  apprehended him and transported to the LPS for further investigation.

According to the man who reported the matter to authorities, he received a phone call early that morning from his friend stating that Nauer allegedly broke into his house which made him scared for his life.

The victim who can’t speak or understand English well was interviewed by investigators at the LPS, while his friend (reporter) translated.

According to the victim’s statement to investigators, at around 6:35a.m early that morning (Oct. 30th) he was at the farm behind his residence doing his daily job when he saw a man inside his house.

The victim ran to his house and saw Nauer, who had taken food from the table and already broken off the lock to the victim’s room. When Nauer saw the victim, he (Nauer) ran outside while the victim was running also trying to catch him. That’s when the victim contacted his friend (reporter) to call the police for assistance.

Previously, on Oct. 28th (two days prior to the alleged incident) around 6:21p.m, the victim and his friend (reporter) had also walked into the LPS to report Nauer who had allegedly threatened the victim and three other Vietnamese individuals with a machete. The threats were made starting Oct. 22nd until Oct. 27, at their farm behind their residence.

According to the victim, it is a daily thing for Nauer to come over to their residence with a machete to scare them. All the times Nauer came over, he would approach them while swinging the machete around violently and speaking in a language that none of them understood.

The victim also stated that they would run around inside their farm while Nauer chased them around with the machete. The victim further stated that on Oct. 27th, which was the last day Nauer approached them with a machete, the three individuals that he stayed with left their residence in fear to look for another place to stay. He stated that the three individuals told him that they are scared for their lives and wanted to leave the area.

Looking for more information regarding the alleged crime, investigators turned to the man who owns the house where the victim and the three people rent in Puapua.

According to the owner of the rental house, it was around 12noon on Oct. 27th when the victim ran to his residence which is located not far from the rental house with a rake, asking for assistance due to a male who approached them with a machete. The victim then directed the owner of the rental house to where this male individual was located.

Upon approaching the farm area, the owner of the rental house didn’t observe anyone there. He then asked the victim for a description of this male individual and the victim stated that he is tall, was wearing a hat and had cutting scars on his arm. The victim directed the owner of the rental house to the area where Nauer was running and he observed footprints.

Nauer was Mirandized and he informed investigators that he understood his rights and refused to make a statement about the matter on hand.

BACKGROUND

According to Samoa News archives, Nauer was picked up by cops and later charged in 2017 for assaulting his sister’s son with the broken wooden handle of a hammer.

In that case, Nauer was convicted of private peace disturbance (PPD), third degree assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. Consequently, he was sentenced to 24 months probation, on the condition that he serves 30 days at the TCF.

But Nauer was already serving an 18-month probation term from a 2015 case for which he was convicted of third degree assault and PPD. He was nearing the completion of that probation term when he was arrested for assaulting his sister’s son.

During his sentencing, Nauer told the court that he did not like the way his sister was handling her child and he got tired of telling her how to discipline her kid.

The government attorney at the time told the court that that this is the most severe and vicious misdemeanor heard before the court. The prosecutor noted that this isn’t the defendant’s first assault offense and asked the court to impose the maximum jail term.

Fiti Sunia who was District Court Judge at the time said he recognizes the Samoan system of raising children and the concept of a extended family but told the defendant that that was his sister’s kid and not his.