Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 30-year-old man who was picked up pursuant to an arrest warrant from the court, on the allegation that he unlawfully entered a store in Nu’uuli area and stole several items.

The government filed two separate cases against Apelu Faavae when he made his initial appearance in court two weeks ago.

In the first case, Faavae is charged with stealing and second degree burglary, both class C felonies, punishable by imprisonment of up to 7 years, a $5,000 fine or, pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20,000, or both such fine and imprisonment.

In the second case, he is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana (weed), and unlawful possession of methamphetamine (meth), both felonies.

Bond is set at $15,000.

Faavae’s defense attorney asked to reduce bail to $5,000 surety for both cases; but prosecutor Laura Garvey pointed out that Faavae is not new to the court system, and his actions in these two cases show the type of person he is. The court agreed and bond was maintained in both cases.

THE CASE

On May 20, an Asian businessman reported to police that his store in Nu’uuli area was burglarized by an unknown person and a lot of personal belongings were stolen. He told police that the perpetrator was unable to enter the portion of the store where food and other items are stored, gaining entry only into the back room.

A copy of the surveillance footage was provided to investigators, which shows a man entering the back portion of the store by damaging the wood door to gain entry.

A female employee was able to identify the person on the surveillance footage as Apelu Faavae, the defendant.

Faavae was picked up from his brother’s home and taken in for questioning, where he allegedly admitted to investigators that he broke into the store and took a number of things on the night of May 19th, 2021, while his friend was standing outside of the store as a lookout.

He went on to say that some of the items he stole were sold to his friend from Vaitogi in exchange for drugs, while others were sold to another man from Iliili for money to buy food and beer for himself and his friends.

Before Faavae was interviewed, a body search was conducted and during the pat down, two clear baggies containing a white crystalline substance which later tested positive for meth, fell from the right side of Faavae’s shorts.

Police also found two hand rolled joints, which later tested positive for THC, the active ingredient marijuana, inside his pants pocket.

Faavae signed the arrest warrant for the burglary case. When asked about the drugs, Faavae said that the man who gave him drugs was arrested by police last year and he has a pending case in court after police raided his house in Vaitogi and allegedly found drugs and paraphernalia. Faavae revealed to police the name of the man.

Furthermore, Faavae told police that every time they had a drinking session with his friends, (the one with a pending court case), his friend always gave him drugs for his own personal use.

When questioned about the burglary, Faavae admitted that he committed these crimes to get money to buy things he wanted.