Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The government has filed an additional charge against one of the three Territorial Correctional Facility police officers, who were arrested in connection with the shooting that occurred in Leone two months ago involving an inmate who allegedly escaped from confinement, which resulted in a male being hospitalized for gunshot wounds.

In the meantime, District Court Judge Fiti Sunia has taken under advisement the preliminary examination (PX) which was conducted yesterday.

TCF- DPS Watch Commander, Mosese Lomu received a copy of the new charge against him yesterday morning when he appeared in District Court for his PX on the first matter, where he’s facing charges of criminal fraud and tampering with public records, both class C felonies.

In the new case, Lomu is charged with one count of tampering with a witness, a class D felony.

Lomu is represented by Assistant Public Defender, Ryan Anderson, while prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General, Woodrow Pengelly.

Judge Fiti Sunia established Lomu’s bail at $5,000 surety bond.

His defense attorney asked the court to release his client on the same conditions the court gave him when he appeared for the first matter; however, the government’s attorney strongly opposed the motion.

Pengelly informed the court that the new case against the defendant involving the allegation that he contacted some of the government’s witnesses and threatened them is a clear violation of conditions of his release on bond.

Furthermore, Pengelly told the court that on Aug. 29, 2018 when the first matter against this defendant was filed in court, the government did not oppose the defendant’s bond reduction from $10,000 to $5,000, but with the new allegation against him, the government strongly opposes the defense’s motion for a reduced bond.

However, the court granted the defense’s motion and ordered Lomu to remain law abiding, to not leave or attempt to leave the territory, to surrender his travel documents to the government’s attorney, and not to make any direct or indirect contact with the government’s witnesses.

“Again, no direct or indirect contact with all of the government’s witness, do you understand?” Sunia asked Lomu, who was sitting beside his defense attorney.

“No phone calls, no talk, no letter or whatsoever. Otherwise, you’re facing the consequences of losing your bond,” Sunia concluded.

Lomu is scheduled to appear in court today at 10:30a.m for his PX on the new charge.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

During the PX hearing on the first charges, the government called one witness to the stand — Det. Justin Thomsen, the lead investigator in the case.

Det. Thomsen testified that it was around 4:40 a.m, on Aug. 12, 2018 when Lt. Kolia Solaita contacted him and informed him about a shooting in Leone and that the alleged primary suspect was a TCF inmate. Lt. Solaita further told him that the suspect was later identified by two eye-witnesses as Manu Lefatia.

During the course of his investigation, Det. Thomsen stated he was able to interview another TCF officer, Carter Soliai, at the Tafuna Substation. He said Soliai told him that contrary to statements made by Lomu, when Lefatia’s cell was checked at around 3:30 a.m Lefatia was not inside his cell, but he was later found around 3:45 a.m outside of his cell near inmate Isumu’s cell.

Det. Thomsen told the court that Soliai also stated that there were holes in the fence by the Bravo Unit that led outside into the compound Lot to the south of TCF, and due to it being near the time they had to release inmates into the common areas of TCF, he took it upon himself to mend one of the holes in the fence that he was aware of. Soliai said Lomu later approached him to reinforce the idea of “stick to the same story.”

The TCF log was also reviewed during the process of the investigation; and according to Det. Thomsen, there were changes made in the TCF log; and when he approached the TCF officer responsible for keeping the log, Viopapa Vitolio, she confirmed that Lomu instructed her to add new entries to the TCF log, to make it look like there were counts for the inmates between 11p.m on Aug. 11, 2018 and 3:30p.m, Aug. 12.

During cross-examination, Anderson asked Det. Thomsen to explain to the court who can access the TCF log. The witness responded, “Anybody.”

Anderson asked again, “What do you mean by anybody. Anybody in the territory?

Det. Thomsen replied, “No.”

During final submission, the government’s attorney asked the court to bind over Lomu’s case to the High Court, as sufficient evidence had been presented. But Anderson argued that the government had not.

Judge Sunia said the court has taken under advisement the PX for Lomu, to await the result of his second PX which is scheduled for today at 10:30 a.m.