Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Repeat offenders Joeita Fa’aaliga and Joseph Iakopo accused of escaping from the Tafuna Correctional Facility and breaking into businesses in the Tafuna Industrial Park and Nu’uuli made their initial appearances in the District Court yesterday.

Fa’aaliga and Iakopo are charged with escape from confinement on January 25, 2023.

According to the government’s case, on January 25, 2023, a corrections officer contacted the police requesting assistance to look out for escaped inmate Fa’aaliga however not long after, it was Iakopo instead who was observed by an off-duty corrections officer inside the store.

Iakopo was trying to buy a case of beer when off-duty officer Vagai observed Iakopo inside the store.

The report says watch Commander Sgt. Taai contacted a corrections officer posted at Alpha and Bravo Facility at TCF where Iakopo was held and it was confirmed he was not in his cell.

However the report says, a few minutes later Iakopo was back in his cell, but officers observed that Fa’aaliga was not in his cell.

“Inmate's Fa’aaliga and Iakopo were both in disciplinary action for previous escape cases.”

IAKOPO

According to correction officer Mamaia who was posted at Bravo Unit, had been instructed by officer Malele to release inmates Fa’aaliga and Iakopo from their cells to get some fresh air. However, Mamaia was called for by some inmates from the Delta Unit, and that's when he proceeded to the Delta Unit.

Upon returning back to the Bravo Unit, correction officer Malele informed Mamaia that inmates Fa’aaliga and Iakopo were gone.

The government’s case claims that police were able to review the surveillance cameras at the store and the footage confirmed that Iakopo had been inside the store.

“It revealed the exact date, January 25, 2023 and time 20:28 hours, when Iakopo entered the store and purchased a case of… beer.”

On January 26, 2023, Iakopo gave a verbal statement to police that corrections officer Mamaia allowed him to leave his cell as he was in need of fresh air and he denied ever leaving TCF.

FA’AALIGA

According to the government’s case, on January 25, 2023, employees from a store (not the same store Iakopo was seen in) observed a crack on the front glass door of their building.

The report says an intruder threw a rock that shattered the glass inches on top of the door knob and the perpetrator reached inside and unlocked the latch to gain entry. The whole building was ransacked and the surveillance camera system was damaged.

The suspect had forcibly yanked the wires and computer system from its mounting position. The owner of the the store recovered the computer discarded behind their building the night of the incident.

The owner of the store, Jack Nie managed to reconnect and reassemble the system where it showed an individual on the footage who was later identified as inmate Fa’aaliga.

The criminal affidavit says that the estimated cost of the damaged items and repairs to the store amounted to $600.

It’s further alleged that on the same night an unknown intruder broken into an auto parts store, by smashing the front door (glass) using a rock to gain entrance inside the building.

Security guard from the construction site across from the Vet center building told police that he heard a loud noise coming from the auto parts store location as if someone was breaking into the building.

The security guard saw a male individual walk from the parts store’s area and hide in the bushes near the road.

He then contacted the police station and reported the matter.

While he was calling the police station, he made his way to the front of the parts store and that is when the individual fled the scene.

The parts store door was damaged, and it’s alleged the burglar yanked all the internet hardware from its location.

 The estimated cost of the damaged items and repairs to the parts store was close to $5,000.

Police interviewed Fa’aaliga on January 26, 2023, and Fa’aaliga admitted that he escaped from the TCF on January 25, 2023.

He told police that he was allowed by corrections officer Mamaia, out of his cell for “fresh air” and that’s when he met up with Iakopo and they proceeded behind the TCF church building and climbed on top of the concrete wall to make their way out.

He stated that they split up after leaving TCF and he proceeded to each store, committing damage to each in order to get in and ransack them looking for money. At both, he yanked the surveillance camera system.

When police showed up at the auto part store, he exited the building by the back door with the camera system and tossed it behind the building and fled back to TCF.

BACKGROUND

Fa’aaliga is being charged in relation to the incident that occurred last month, however it is unclear why he has not been prosecuted over the attempted break-in of the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) in November last year.

Samoa News reached out to Acting Police Commissioner Vaipuna Foifua Jr yesterday for comments on this issue, but efforts were unsuccessful.

In November 2022 Fa’aaliga allegedly broke out of the Tafuna Correctional Facility and attempted to break into the TBAS bank branch in Tafuna, but failed.

However he vandalized the ATM machine, which was found to be beyond repair and had to be replaced.

A statement issued by the TBAS following the attempted burglary was that “nothing was taken as Public Safety arrived while the robbery was in progress and arrests were made.”

(To date, Samoa News cannot confirm if there was more than one arrest — which included the prisoner — or the statement by DPS mistakenly indicated more than one arrest.)

However, it was acknowledged that the prisoner was taken back into the custody of the police at that time.

As reported earlier, Chief of Police Poua'amea Tuaolo Supapo said in December they have not received all the evidence from the bank, hence the delay in prosecuting this matter.

 “All I can say is that the investigation is continuing and once that is completed the file will then be sent to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution,” the Chief said.

According to the CoP, the prisoner in question is in the custody of police.

As reported by Samoa News last July, the American Samoa Corrections Agency (ASCA) management remains tightlipped over the lack of a public notice when a prisoner escapes from the TCF.

A photo of the prisoner — Faaliga, circulated on Facebook, and it was alleged he had broken into family homes in Tafuna. 

Even when the prisoner was captured there was no public notice issued regarding this matter.