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Man serving 20 years for escape and assault — escapes again

Territorial Correctional Facility, TCF
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERIAN SAMOA — An inmate who is serving a 20-year sentence for escaping from the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) in January 2010 and assaulting an ANZ security guard is charged with escape from confinement — again.

The government claims that Pati Lepou allegedly escaped from the TCF earlier this year in August while he was incarcerated. According to the government's case, other inmates who allegedly saw Lepou jump the TCF fence notified prison guards who were on duty that evening, Aug. 22.

A head count was conducted and it confirmed that Lepou was not inside the TCF compound.

Police officers were notified and later that same night, Lepou was captured and escorted back to custody.

Lepou made his initial appearance in District Court last week. He is facing one count of escape from confinement, a class D felony, punishable by jail time up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

He was represented by Assistant Public Defender Ryan Anderson while prosecuting the case was Jason Mitchell.

Lepou waived his right to a preliminary examination last Friday and entered a 'not guilty' plea to the charge against him. He’s scheduled for a pretrial conference on Jan. 16, 2019.

BACKGROUND

In 2010, Lepou and three other inmates escaped from TCF and walked towards ANZ where Lepou struck the security guard and kicked him while demanding his car keys. Lepou told the other inmates to stab the guard with a butter knife he was holding.

Lepou and the other inmates continued to attack the security guard until they saw a truck approaching; that's when they fled and returned to TCF.