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Man’s alleged meth problem just isn’t going away

Meth pipe on mirror
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man who is serving 5 years probation for a drug conviction was arrested by police two weeks ago and charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

He is charged with one count of unlawful possession of the controlled substance methamphetamine (meth), a felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five nor more than ten years and a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $20,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000.

Faatele Lomi waived his rights to a preliminary hearing during his initial appearance.

He appeared in High Court last week for arraignment where he entered a not guilty plea to the single charge against him.

Pretrial conference is scheduled for December of this year.

THE CASE

Around 4 p.m on Oct. 11, 2021, several police officers were patrolling the Nu’uuli area, when one of the officers spotted Lomi standing in front of a store. Lomi has an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

Lomi was apprehended and transported to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) for questioning. Before he was transported to the TPS, a body search was conducted and during the pat down, police discovered a glass pipe containing white crystalline substance.

When questioned by police, he stated that the glass pipe was given to him by another male individual named DAVE. He also stated that he had smoked from the pipe a few moments earlier before police officers arrested him.

Police tested a portion of the white crystalline substance inside the pipe and the test yielded positive results for meth.

Lomi was also served with the copy of his warrant from the High Court for failure to comply with conditions of his probation.

BACKGROUND

In August 2017, Lomi was sentenced by the High Court to 5 years probation after found guilty of unlawful possession of meth.

Last year, while serving his period of detention, Lomi, along with some other inmates tested positive for meth, when a representative from the Probation Office conducted a drug test on him.

The court did not revoke Lomi’s probation but modified it, and ordered the defendant to serve 3 months at the TCF.

During his sentencing, Lomi apologized to the court for his actions and begged for a second chance to return home to care for his parents and serve his family. “I feel I made a mistake and I am truly remorseful for what I did. I ask the court to please forgive me,” said Lomi

When the court asked Lomi what his mistake was, the defendant replied, “my crime.” “What was your crime?” the court asked, to which Lomi replied, “unlawful possession of drugs”.