Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The the case of the 45-year-old stepfather who is accused of sexually abusing his 11-year-old stepdaughter is now bound over to the High Court, after the defendant waived his rights to a preliminary hearing last week.

(Samoa News has decided to withhold the name of the stepfather, to protect the 11-year-old. It should be noted that the Court affidavit provides the name of the stepfather, but the victim is referred to only as F.F)

The defendant, who is still in custody unable to post his $75,000 surety bond entered a not guilty plea when he appeared before Chief Justice Michael Kruse last Friday for arraignment.

The defendant is charged with six felony charges, including sodomy, a class B felony, punishable by an imprisonment from 5 to 15 years; attempted rape and 3 counts of 1st degree sexual abuse, both class D felonies. He’s also charged with endangering of a child, a class A misdemeanor.

He is represented by Public Defender Michael White while prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Christy Dunn.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 21, 2018 for his first pretrial conference.

CLARIFICATION

During Samoa News’s first publication regarding this case, published on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2018, it was stated that the defendant is from the village of Fagasa, according to the court affidavit.

However, several members of the Fagasa village contacted Samoa News this week, saying that man is not from Fagasa.

According to one source who was among those who first reported this alleged incident to the police, the man and his family were living in Fagasaga, while awaiting a permanent place to live. And, when this incident surfaced, the man and his wife had already moved to another village.

Samoa News was told by sources that this defendant is not from the village of Fagasa.

BACKGROUND

The government’s case against the defendant was reported to police by the secretary of the Le’atele Elementary School in Fagasa on Oct. 25, 2018. The secretary called the Central Police Station and reported that a student, who was only identified in the court affidavit as F.F, was allegedly sexually abused by her stepfather.

The government claims that according to F.F, the defendant is her stepfather and that her biological father passed away. She also claimed that she told her mother about the incidents, who then told her she would talk to her husband. At that point, F.F ran away from home, as she was afraid of her stepfather as he had threatened to beat her up if she told anyone.