Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Theresa Aniseko has disputed information released by the Department of Public Safety regarding her son Samuelu Aniseko.

 “My son is 16 years old, not in his 20s, as indicated by Acting Police Commissioner Vaipuna Foifua Jr.

 “Also the police are not looking for my son, he has been at home, and yet the police never came to our house. They know our house, as my son did encounter the police last year... they know where we live,” she said during an interview with Samoa News last week.

The Acting Police Commissioner told Samoa News the police were looking for information pertaining to the whereabouts of a suspect.

 “He is the suspect in an attempted kidnapping case that was reported to the police late last year,” said Foifua.

He told Samoa News the matter was reported to the police in December and to date they have not been able to locate him.

Samuelu's mother, who visited the Samoa News office on Friday, said however they just want to clear the air that their son while he was accused of an alleged crime, they have “resolved” everything with their neighbor in Futiga, who filed a complaint against their son.

 “We have resolved everything, but to my surprise the Acting Police Commissioner made public statements that the police are looking for my son.

 “Me and my husband went to the police station to get a meeting with Foifua, but we were told they will be looking into it, but we did not get a chance to talk to the Acting Police Commissioner,” she said.

The mother was also concerned that information by the police said her son is in his 20s.

 “That’s not true. He’s 16 years old. My son was housed at the Juvenile Detention Center for about nine months but the case against him was dismissed and he has been cleared of the charges.”

The mother further stated that all she wants is to clear her son’s name, saying that he’s not involved in what police have accused him.

Samoa News has since removed the article from our website and social media sites given that the young man is a minor and his photo should have never been published. We therefore apologize to Mrs Aniseko, her son and the families involved.

In the meantime, repeated efforts to get direct comments from the Acting Police Commissioner were unsuccessful as of press time.