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Am. Samoa man has federal probation revoked

Federal District Court  Building in Honolulu, Hawaii
He was convicted for interfering with a Hawaiian Air crew
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A federal judge has revoked probation for an American Samoan man who was sentenced early last year for interfering with a Hawaiian Airlines crew during a flight about two years ago from Pago Pago to Honolulu.

Aumoeualogo Agaaoa Togia was sentenced Jan. 5, 2017 to three years probation for the Class C felony charge of interfering with a flight crew, under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. He was spared any jail time and the court set various conditions of probation, including being prohibited from consuming alcohol and illegal drugs.

However, court documents filed by the US Probation Office in Honolulu and made public on June 8, 2018 show that Togia was arrested in Honolulu on Feb. 8, 2017 for disorderly conduct that involved the use of alcohol. For this crime, the federal court imposed a special condition in which he served 3 months of home detention with location monitoring.

The June 8 court filing asked US District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayahi to revoke Togia’s probation, because of several violations his of probation. For example, he tested positive for methamphetamine on Mar. 31, 2018 and he admitted to using meth.

When questioned by the Probation Officer, Togia allegedly admitted that he used methamphetamine with a co-worker sometime on Mar. 30, 2018, according to court filing, which also stated that Togia explained that he had been working 60 hours per week and was tired. And his co-worker offered him methamphetamine to keep him going and he consumed the drug.

 In another incident, he tested positive for cocaine on May 27, 2018. He also tested positive for alcohol during another testing.

Court documents say Togia is employed full time and resides in Honolulu.

Togia appeared Tuesday this week in court for a hearing under a court summons based on the US Probation Office’s request. The hearing was to determine whether to revoke probation due to non-compliance with all conditions set by the court in 2017. During the hearing, Togia admitted to violating conditions of his probation which was then revoked, according to court documents.

He was sentenced to one day in prison but no date was given as to when he will serve it at the federal detention center in Honolulu. He was also placed on three years supervised release with many conditions set by the court.

According to court affidvit filed by federal prosecutors when Togia was arrested in the summer of 2016, the defendant was allegedly intoxicated when he interfered with the flight crew and passengers had to help restrain him.

Togia later told an FBI agent that “he did not remember any details between talking with the crew members and then being restrained,” the affidavit alleges. “He did not know what had happened, ‘might have been blacked out, out of my mind’.”

He also told the FBI agent that “I’m a bad drunk” and that “he has no idea what happened or why he was in handcuffs,” it says. (See Samoa News edition July 14, 2016 for specific details.)