Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The government case that was dismissed with prejudice by the High Court two years ago against a woman accused of bringing in an illegal substance in the territory was re-filed in District Court this week.

Wen Ting Chen appeared before Acting Associate Justice Elvis P. Patea this week.

She is charged with one count of unlawful possession of an illegal substance, to wit; Phencyclidine (PCP), an unclassified felony, punishable with an imprisonment term from 5-10 years, a fine of up to $20,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000.

THE CASE

On July 10, 2017 at 1:40p.m, a police detective received a phone call from a Customs K-9 handler asking for police assistance at the Pago Pago International Airport in Tafuna regarding pills that were discovered in the baggage of a female passenger, later identified as Wenting Chen, the defendant in this matter.

The police detective was briefed by the Customs K-9 handler who first discovered the matter. According to the Customs agent, there were two bottles labeled “USA Purchasing” full of unidentified capsules. The woman had arrived from Samoa.

During an interview with the defendant, she stated to investigators that the pills were for weight loss and that she ordered the pills online. The defendant also showed investigators a Chinese website on her smartphone with pictures of bottles resembling the bottles discovered in her possession.

The defendant was informed that the pills would be seized until the contents of the pills can be identified. Two weeks later on July 26, investigators received results from Dr. Luisa Clemens who is employed with the LBJ pharmacy. According to the results provided, the contents of the pills contained small traces of thyroid hormone mixed with Phencyclidine (PCP).

In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has categorized this drug as an illegal substance. The common street name for PCP is “angel dust” and it has substantial abuse potential and can be mixed with other illegal substance to cause hallucinations, delirium and manic episodes, according to the police report.

The pills were sent to the DEA lab. The confirmation test reveled that the pills were sibutrainine, which according to the FDA is a weight loss agent that was withdrawn from the market in the USA and European Union because it increases adverse events in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

BACKGROUND

The case against Chen was first filed in District Court in July of 2017 where the defendant requested a preliminary hearing (PX). During her PX which was held on Aug. 11, 2017, the case was bound over to the High Court after the District Court judge found probable cause from the evidence the government presented in court.

The defense attorney at the time of Chen’s PX asked during cross examination what  test was used to determined the existence of illegal substance in the pills. Defense attorney didn’t feel that there was basis for the charge against Chen given the lack of information about the lab test.

Two years later on Aug. 29, 2019, a prosecutor at the time asked the High Court that the case against defendant be dismissed with prejudice, saying that the government intended to re-file the case against the defendant in District Court at a later date when it has enough information to support the charge.

The bottles of pills did not have a patient name or name of the doctor that issued the prescription. The only thing written on the bottle was “USA Purchasing”.