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Man who gave students marijuana joints to sell bound over for trial

NO MARIJUANA GRAPHIC
He and 2nd man identified by students served time for having sex with 13-year old
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — High school students caught smoking marijuana on campus led to the arrest of a man that students told investigators gave them marijuana to sell in school.

Tavita Mariota made his initial appearance before District Court Judge Fiti Sunia last week.

He’s being charged with one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, to wit; marijuana with the intent to distribute, e felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than ten years, or a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $20,000, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to one year, and a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

According to the government’s case, detectives of the DPS Vice & Narcotics Unit received a call from a staffer at Tafuna High School alleging that students were caught by the school security smoking marijuana on campus.

Detectives responded to the call and met with the staff member who notified officials, along with the students who allegedly smoked marijuana on campus.

When questioned by detectives, one of the students told police that the marijuana they were smoking came from a guy named “Tee”. Tee was later identified as Tavita Mariota, who is the defendant in this matter.

The student further told police that Mariota always gives him free marijuana in exchange for selling his marijuana for $5 a joint to the public. The same student told police that he also sells marijuana joints from another man by the name of “Deuce”, aka Lewis Lokeni.

Detectives were able to locate the defendant and escorted him to the police station for questioning. When asked about drugs he allegedly gave to the students, Mariota told police that the received marijuana from a man named Faitele, not Lokeni as the students stated. He further told police that he sold marijuana joints to some of his friends, while some marijuana joints he gave out to a student for free.

Last week, Mariota waived his right to a preliminary examination, and his case was bound over to the High Court for arraignment. During his arraignment on Thursday last week, Mariota denied the charges against him through his attorney, Acting Public Defender, Michael White.

He’s still in custody awaiting his pretrial conference unable to post a surety bond of $10,000. The pretrial conference is now scheduled for Sept 14.

The man Lokeni whose name was also mentioned by the student to police is behind bars in a different case. He was detained after his one-year old son was admitted to the LBJ Hospital for methamphetamine intoxication.

Lokeni is being charged with one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, to wit; marijuana, a felony, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor.

BACKGROUND

Mariota, along with Lokeni were among the four men the High Court sentenced to 28 months imprisonment back in July 2013, after they were convicted for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

The four were each convicted of sexual assault, a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000 or both; and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor that carries a jail term of up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.

The incident came to light when a truancy officer at Lupelele Elementary School contacted police about a possible sex case after observing “love bite marks” on the girl’s neck.

During the investigation, the victim told police that she had engaged in sexual intercourse with the four defendants, at different times, from August 2011 to April 2012. All 4 defendants admitted to having sex with the minor.