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Overstayer convicted of drug charges ordered to leave the territory

American Samoa High Court building
reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 34-year-old man from Samoa who was convicted for violating the drug laws of the territory was ordered to depart the territory and remain outside of its border, as a condition of his 5-year probation sentence.

Fereti Alalatoa, who has been in custody since his arrest last year, unable to post his $5,000 bond, pled guilty to the charge of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a class D felony.

Alalatoa appeared in High Court last week for sentencing. He was represented by Public Defender Michael White, while prosecuting the case was Assistant Attorney General Christy Dunn.

When given the chance to address the court, Alalatoa apologized for his actions, and asked for a chance to go back to Samoa to care for his parent and make use of his life to serve his church, family and village. Alalatoa also told the court that spending many months in jail taught him a lesson, that drugs are not good for him.

His attorney, White asked the court to accept the recommendation contained in the Pre Sentence Report (PSR) prepared by the Probation Office, and sentence his client to a probated sentence under the condition that he has to depart the territory.

After reviewing all the facts of the case, along with submissions from counsels and also the statement from the defendant, Associate Justice Fiti Sunia stated to the court that Alalatoa was a overstayer from Samoa when he was arrested by police last year, after being found with a glass of pipe containing methamphetamine.

According to a report from the Immigration Office, Alalatoa entered the territory on a 30-day permit, where he continued to reside in the territory as an overstayer for 3 months before he was arrested.

According to Sunia, Alalatoa went out to party with some of this friends, and after his night out, he then took a taxi home. However, when the taxi got to Alalatoa’s residence, the taxi driver found the defendant sleeping in the back seat of his taxi, and he was heavily intoxicated.

The taxi driver tried to wake up Alalatoa but the defendant continued to sleep inside his taxi. The driver then drove his vehicle to the Tafuna Police station and dropped off the defendant there for his safety. Alalatoa continued to sleep, but at the Tafuna Police station.

When he woke up the next morning, the defendant then realized that he was sleeping in a different place. That is when he started to act violent and started to punched the wall inside the Tafuna Police station’s conference room, leaving holes in the wall.

He was immediately apprehended by police and was placed under police custody; and when police searched his body, officers discovered a glass pipe containing methamphetamine inside his pants’ pocket.

The court then sentenced Alalatoa to five years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. Execution of sentence is suspended and the defendant is placed on probation for the period of 5 years, subject to certain conditions, including serving a period of detention of 20 months at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF); time already served would be counted toward his sentence; the remaining period of detention is stayed, and he is ordered to depart the territory and remain outside of its border for this stayed period.

Sunia ordered a copy of the court’s judgement and sentence must be served to the Immigration Office and Board, to make sure Alalatoa’s name will be include on their office’s Lookout list.