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Court Report

VICE AND NARCOTICS DIVISION CONFISCATES MARIJUANA PLANTS

A public peace disturbance call was sent to the Department of Public Safety over an incident in Masefau, and when police responded, they came across four live marijuana plants.

The patrol officers contacted the Vice and Narcotics Division (VND) that then confiscated the marijuana plants.

VND Captain Peau Leuma confirmed that an investigation is underway and no one has yet been arrested, however he declined to further comment on the matter.

According to other police sources, the marijuana plants are of different heights, ranging from inches to several feet.

LOLA REID PX HEARING SCHEDULED NEXT WEEK

Marie Lorraine Reid also known as Lola Reid a former member of the Pago Pago Yacht Club (PPYC) Board who is facing embezzlement and stealing charges on allegations that she misappropriated funds belonging to the American Samoa Sailing Association (ASSA) without proper authorization, has her preliminary examination scheduled for next week Thursday.

Reid is out on bail of $5,000 and is represented by Fiti Sunia.

The embezzlement charge is a class C felony and carries a jail term of up to seven years, a fine of $5,000, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime up to a maximum of $20,000, or both fine and imprisonment.

Reid is also facing stealing, which is a class C felony punishable for up to seven years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of the said crime up to a maximum of $20,000, or both the fine and imprisonment.

According to the government’s case, on February 3, 2011 James McGuire filed a complaint with the Department of Public Safety regarding the ASSA Bank of Hawaii account, which was allegedly used by Reid for personal use.

Court documents say that prior to the incident Reid was a member and officer of the PPYC. Reid had been elected as the Rear Commodore and she was the primary signer on the subsidiary corporation for the ASSA bank account.

According to court documents, the ASSA board of directors requires two signatures to withdraw funds from the ASSA account. The police affidavit states that Reid abused that fiduciary responsibility and signed a number of ASSA Junior Sailing fund checks made out to her name, and cashed them.

According to the government’s case, Reid made a written statement to the police saying that she was took funds in the form of six checks made out to her out of the ASSA Junior Sailing fund “to keep the kid’s money safe from McGuire.”

In court documents Reid admitted to cashing six checks from August 12, 2010 to November 15, 2010, payable to herself and endorsed by herself without a second signature.

(Samoan version of this story appeared in the Samoa News, yesterday, May 22, under “Tala o Faamasinoga”)