Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On October 30, 2025, a concerned mother called the Leone Police Substation (LPS) and reported that two men had allegedly assaulted her son.

Both suspects were charged with Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine not to exceed $1,000.00, or both imprisonment and fine.

The defendants’ bails were set at $500 each.

Court records revealed that on Oct 30th, a woman (later identified as the reporter/victim’s mother) contacted the LPS and alleged that her 14-year-old son (the victim) was assaulted by Fa’asavalu Lafaele Galo (suspect #1).

The reporter alleged that her son went to the store to buy medicine, and the assault occurred at the bus stop near the store.

Police officers were dispatched to the call and, upon arrival at the scene, observed the victim and the reporter inside their car. The reporter briefed the officers and stated that her son went to the store and was assaulted by Galo. The officers informed the reporter and the victim to head to the police station for further investigation.

The officers were familiar with the suspect’s name and proceeded to his residence, but upon arrival at suspect #1’s house, he was nowhere to be seen.

The officers moved to a neighboring house to find out what had happened and were able to interview a witness who claimed the incident began with what had happened the previous day.

He explained that the victim teased their dogs for no reason and that the victim had also stood and challenged suspect #1 to a fight, but ran away after flipping off and yelling profanities at Galo.

Furthermore, the next day, the victim showed up at the store, and Galo was there as well. Galo apparently slapped the victim and told him not to do it again, and afterwards asked the victim if he was okay.

The victim was also interviewed. He stated that he went to the store the day before, and Galo called out to him, saying he didn’t want to see anyone from Vailoa on the road. The victim said he didn’t know the suspect was referring to him until Galo asked him if he was messing with him. He answered “yes’ and Galo walked over and suggested they fight. He told the Galo that he was too old, and that’s when another man (later identified as suspect #2)  chased him, and also threw rocks at him. Yelling out a Samoan cry (fa’aumu), he then ran away.

The victim continued that the following day, he went to the store to get his medicine, but both suspects called him out again and asked why he had yelled at them. Then, all of a sudden, suspect #1 was about to punch him, but suspect #2 intervened and punched him instead, and held him down while suspect #1 punched him all over his body.

After that, he headed home while suspect #2 yelled profanities and told him that’s what he gets for being cheeky. The victim also noted that this isn’t the first time this has happened and that they have done it countless times.

The officers contacted the EMS to medically check on the victim.

The other officers proceeded to locate the suspects. Ben Fereti (suspect #2) was nowhere to be found, and suspect #1 (Galo) willingly came by the station with his parents.

According to Galo, he stated that he went to the store, and the victim started throwing rocks and messing with their dogs. He yelled at the victim, telling him to stop bothering their dogs; however, the victim began to come at him despite being told not to do so.

Galo also claimed that last night, his sister came and said to him that she saw the kid (victim) and his brothers with sticks and a machete looking for him; and that’s why on the following day, he saw the victim in front of the store and confronted him — trying to talk to him, but the victim started throwing punches. As a result, he slapped the victim to teach him a lesson.

Galo was booked and confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility until the next available sitting of the District Court.

The officers observed swelling on the victim’s left cheek as a result of the incident.

(Ben Fereti’s affidavit does not state if he was also arrested and confined along with Fa’asavalu Lafaele Galo.)