Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On February 18, 2025, a man called the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) and reported that someone was allegedly using his stolen bank card to make a purchase at a store in Pavai’a’i.

The suspect was later arrested and charged with:

Count 1: Burglary in the Second Degree, a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both;

Count 2: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both;

Count 3: Trespass, a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of $500, or both; and,

Count 4: Fraudulent Use of a Credit Device, a class D felony punishable by imprisonment of not to exceed five years, a fine of $5,000, pr both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $10,000.

The court affidavit stated that on Feb. 18th, at around 1:13 p.m., a man contacted the TPS and reported an alleged burglary. He stated that his stolen Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) bank card was swiped at a store in Pavai’a’i.

Police officers responded to the call and upon arrival at the victim’s house they made initial contact with the victim.

According to the victim, he explained that his house was burglarized on Sunday (Feb. 16, 2025) around 1:00 p.m. He stated that when he woke up from his sleep in the afternoon, he noticed that his wallet was outside his backpack. He opened his wallet and noticed that his TBAS bank card was not in the wallet along with $37.00 cash that had been inside his wallet.

He then went into his wife’s bedroom and told her about the situation. His wife was shocked and later found out that she was also missing $80.00 cash that had been in her wallet. The victim told the officers that he didn’t contact the authorities because he was busy and had to get ready for his shift at work. However, he did contact the store and notified them about his stolen TBAS bank card.

Moreover, the victim stated that the store owner contacted him and informed him that his card was swiped that day for a purchase of $27.00. The victim said he also went to the bank to obtain his bank statement to see the updated purchase(s) on his bank card.

The bank statement showed that the card was also swiped the previous day (Feb. 17) with a purchase of $73.00.

The officers proceeded to the store for further investigation where the store cashier provided CCTV footage. The footage was shown to the victim where he pointed out that the defendant was Tulati Alaiva’a, a kid from their neighborhood.

Authorities proceeded to locate the defendant at his residence, however, officers met up with the suspect’s cousin who informed them that the defendant doesn’t live there anymore. He explained that the suspect was kicked out from his home because of his disobedience towards his mother. The cousin told the police to check at the suspect’s friend’s house.

Officers proceeded to the suspect’s friend’s house and observed the suspect sitting outside of his friend’s house. The police interviewed the suspect and according to the suspect, he claimed that he found the bank card on the side of the road leading to the victim’s house.

The defendant was arrested and Mirandized to which he refused to cooperate.

He was later confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility.

Further investigation into the matter revealed that the suspect signed off on two receipts from the purchases he made at the store. The suspect and the victim were also neighbors and the victim claimed that he had reason to believe the suspect broke into their home because the suspect constantly walked back and forth beside their house a lot of times.

The defendant is identified as a 19-year-old U.S National.