Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Sappa Santana has been charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance namely methamphetamine (meth).

He appeared in the District Court earlier this month with his bail set at $3,000.

According to the government’s case, earlier this month Traffic Division officers contacted the Vice and Narcotics Division regarding a glass pipe containing crystalline substance was discovered in the possession of Santana upon checking for identification at the scene of a vehicle accident in Auto village.

Police arrived at the scene and met with the driver Santana, who is from Aua, according to the government’s case. Santana was on the side of the road on the phone, and was holding a backpack.

He told police that he fell asleep behind the wheel and lost control of his vehicle.

Police asked what was in the backpack and Santana allowed officers to search it for any form of valid identification and they discovered a glass pipe containing a crystalline substance wrapped in a white napkin.

According to the officers, when Santana saw the glass pipe, he told officers that the backpack belonged to him but everything else inside was not his.

“Upon arrival at the Fagatogo Police Station, the black backpack and the contents inside were transferred over to Vice and Narcotics.” The crystalline substance was then tested and it came back positive for meth.

According to Santana’s verbal statement, his girlfriend owns the meth pipe and that she gave it to him to hold. He said he was on the way to Fagaitua to deliver food to his girlfriend when he fell asleep behind the wheel and got into the accident in Auto.

The defendant was treated by EMS technicians and was taken to the LBJ hospital. After he was discharged, he was then transported to the Traffic Office in Tafuna where he was booked.

However, during the inventory process a necklace and a small glass vial with a white crystalline substance was found. He told police the necklace belonged to him, but the vial containing the meth was not his. The substance inside the vial tested positive for meth.