Pago Pago, AMRICAN SAMOA — A man from Taputimu who was arrested and charged for burglarizing his relative’s home and vehicle is now facing additional charges of unlawful possession of illegal drugs.

Simeona Tufuga made his initial appearance in Court last week.

Tufuga, 31, is facing charges in two separate cases.

In the first case, he is charged with two counts of second degree burglary; and two counts of stealing, both class C felonies, punishable by imprisonment of up to 7 years, a $5,000 fine or pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20,000, or both such fine and imprisonment for each count.

In the second case, he is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana — both felonies.

Bail is set at $10,000.

Tufuga has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his case has been bound over to High Court. He appeared Tuesday for arraignment where he entered a ‘not guilty’ plea to the charges. Pretrial conference is Aug. 20.

THE BURGLARY CASE

Police received a complaint from a Puapua woman regarding her home and vehicle being burglarized by unknown people while she was off island two months ago. The victim told police that she and the family returned Apr. 7 from a one month trip to find that the back door of their home had been broken and several personal items were missing.

Also, her vehicle parked outside of the house was also damaged and her son’s piano was missing.

Several witnesses came forward during the investigation — identifying Tufuga as the person who sold them stolen goods. In particular, a female from Vailoa came forward with information that would help investigators with their case.

The female told police that she knew the person who broke into the family’s home and stole items from inside the house. According to her, she was at home on the night of Apr. 10, when Tufuga called and asked her if she knew someone who wanted to buy some power tools.

Later that night, Tufuga told the witness that he had some items that he needed to sell to get money to buy drugs. He further stated to the witness that he got the items from the victim’s house.

Tufuga was picked up from his home in Taputimu and taken in for questioning, where he verbally admitted to the April break-in.

In his written statement, Tufuga noted down all the items he stole, along with the names of the people he sold them to. Police were able to speak to some of the people who bought stolen items from Tufuga, with all saying they didn’t know the item(s) was stolen.

Last month, police went to Taputimu with an arrest warrant for Tufuga, whom they found drinking with a friend at the friend’s house.

As soon as Tufuga saw the police unit coming towards him, he stood up and ran to the back of the house. Police followed him and he was apprehended. During a body search, police discovered a black wallet inside Tufuga’s pants. Inside the wallet were two hand rolled cigarettes and one small stamp-sized baggie containing a white crystalline substance.

When asked about the items, Tufuga said it was ice and marijuana. He allegedly admitted to police that he sold two stolen tools to a man in Futiga for money to buy drugs. He refused to reveal the man’s name.