Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A woman accused of threatening and forcing two young girls to smoke methamphetamine (meth) has been arrested and charged.

The defendant, Juanita Kisena is charged with two counts of unlawful possession of meth and two counts of child abuse, all felonies.

Bail is set at $35,000 and the preliminary hearing (PX) is scheduled for next week.

THE CASE

On Jan. 30, 2022, detectives of the Vice and Narcotic K9 Unit were informed about a case at the Leone Police Substation (LPS) regarding two minors who were forced by a female individual to consume illegal drugs such as meth. According to the government’s case, there were no actual drugs discovered in this matter.

The two minor victims are females, aged 15-years-old and 14-years-old.

According to the government, it was a mother who contacted the LPS requesting police assistance due to her daughter being forced to consume illegal drugs by an adult female individual by the name of Juanita Kisena, the defendant in this matter.

Both victims were interviewed by detectives regarding the alleged crime in the presence of their parents and they provided verbal and written statements about what happened..

According to the 15-year-old victim #1, P.M., she and her friend by the name of W.F (14-year-old victim #2) were at P.M.’s residence when her aunt (Juanita Kisena the defendant) approached her and W.F. to assist her to take milk and apples to the house of a man by the name of “T” who lived in Vaitogi. Without letting P.M.’s mother know, both victims agreed to assist P.M.’s aunt.

Upon taking the items to T’s residence, P.M. stated that they met up with a man by the name of “M”.  M spoke to the defendant and made plans to walk up to the “Filifili” area in Iliili. Both victims stopped and told the defendant that it was too dark and that they were scared to go any further, however, the defendant convinced both victims to continue walking and that if they stopped they could get hurt.

The defendant, both victims and M continued up to the Filifili area and when they arrived, the defendant told both victims to wait with this man M on the other side of the road because she needed to grab something from a Samoan Fale nearby. Upon returning, the defendant handed one of the victims (P.M.) a stamp-sized baggie containing a white powder and instructed P.M. to hand the baggie to M.

P.M. also told investigators that the defendant took her and W.F. up the hill to a shack and told them to wait there and left. A few moment later, the defendant returned with four other men including M.

P.M. stated that the four men and the defendant started to use what seemed to be a glass pipe and started smoking what they were told was ‘ice’. The defendant offered the glass pipe to W.F. and when W.F. refused, the defendant threatened that if they did not smoke it, her boys had guns and would shoot her and P.M.

Out of fear, both P.M. and W.F. took a couple of puffs from the glass pipe containing the white powder.

The two minor victims and the defendant then left the area an hour later and returned to an abandoned store in Vaitogi where they hung out for an hour until another young man known as “A” showed up. That time, according to P.M.’s statement, the defendant gave her and W.F. the glass pipe and told them to “smoke again”.

The two minor victims again took several puffs of the substance and according to P.M., it was probably around 4 in the morning. She felt lightheaded and her body felt heavy. They returned home for less than an hour and the defendant told her and W.F. that they were going to Filifili area with “A”. P.M. said they were again threatened by the defendant.

On their way up to the Filifili area, this man A, had meth on him, and the defendant told both minor victims to smoke meth again with them. Both victims again smoked meth with the defendant and A on their way to the Filifili area.

When the defendant, along with A and both victims were near the Filifili area, several men started yelling and cursing at the defendant for bringing them near the area and that they were not supposed to be there. The defendant in return yelled back to the men and told them that they had no business in telling her what she can do.

At one point, the defendant told P.M. to use her brother’s ATM card and withdraw $20 to pay for the man who handed the defendant a baggie containing white powder. P.M. refused and the defendant told both victims to wait in a tall grass area so she could get a ride from a man everyone called “General”.

Later, General showed up and gave the defendant and the two minor victims a ride. P.M. was surprised when the defendant was dropped off first and told General to drop off both victims in Futiga.

The defendant told the two victims to tell their parents that they were at one of their aunt’s houses to help with personal issues. The victims were dropped off at a relative’s house in Futiga and immediately requested the old woman who owns the house to contact their parents.

P.M. was surprised when her mother showed up with the defendant. It was when P.M. informed her mother about what had happened that an argument occurred and police were contacted.

Investigators interviewed the defendant after she was Mirandized and she denied all the allegations against her. She was later transported to the Territorial Correctional Facility where she was booked and confined.

Both victims were transported to the LBJ for further medical attention. Upon taking vitals for both victims, it was found that P.M.’s heartbeat was irregular — beating faster than normal and her blood pressure was very high for her age. W.F.’s vitals were normal.

Both victims were submitted for testing and the test showed that P.M. was positive for meth and marijuana. W.F. tested positive for meth.