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Court Report

TUILUA’AI FA’AMAUSILI’S CASE IN HIGH COURT

Tuilua’ai Fa’amausili, accused of passing bad checks and felony stealing, denied the charges against her when she was arraigned in High Court Monday morning.

Fiti Sunia represents Fa’amausili, who’s out on a surety bond of $15,000. Prosecuting this matter is Assistant Attorney General Cable Poag.

Presiding over the arraignment hearing was Chief Justice Michael Kruse who scheduled the pre-trial conference for Fa’amausili on July 30, 2012.

According to the government’s case, in December 2011, Nie Ming, owner of K & K Corporation filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Division of DPS against FTC Corporation owned by the defendant Tuilua’ai Fa’amausili and Office of Motor Vehicle (OMV) Manager Mau Fa’amausili for writing three checks to the victim’s company on three separate occasions, but the account had insufficient funds to cover the checks.

Tuilua’ai is charged with three counts of passing bad checks and three counts of stealing. Each count of passing bad checks is a class D felony which is punishable with up to five years in jail, a fine of $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 fine and imprisonment.

Each stealing charge 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.

Court documents say that on February 14, 2012 a written notice was mailed to the defendant by certified mail as to the non-payment of the bad checks.

JURY TRIAL FOR DRUG DEFENDANT SCHEDULED FOR JULY

Chief Justice Michael Kruse has scheduled a jury trial in the government’s case against Aaron Wisdom facing drug related charges.

Wisdom is charged with Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, marijuana; Possession of Unlicensed Firearm and Unlawful Possession of Ammunition.

According to the government’s case the defendant was criminally charged following the discovery of marijuana substance, drug paraphernalia, three firearms and live ammunition in a container that belonged to him.

Kruse set the jury trial for November 5, 2012.

Court filing states that while Customs Agents were conducting a procedural search of the 20 foot container on January 13, 2012, they discovered a marijuana substance and the Vice and Narcotics Division officers were contacted.

It’s alleged that several boxes of ammunition and three firearms were also confiscated from the container.

According to court affidavit, police also confiscated drug paraphernalia, a large quantity of items related to the cultivation of marijuana, and several books and magazines on how to grow marijuana, along with other equipment used to extract THC.

 Wisdom, who is from San Diego, California, is out on a surety bond of $20,000.

POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED FOR DUI

Among eight people arrested for driving under the influence over the weekend was Police Officer Fatu Enari who made his initial appearance in the District Court Monday morning.

Officer Enari was one of those arrested during the Department of Public Safety’s graduation enforcement. According to police, Enari’s vehicle was swerving on the public highway in the western district, which gave police probable cause to pull the vehicle over for inspection.

During Officer Enari’s initial appearance it came to light that his immigration status was illegal. He was remanded into the custody of the immigration officer who was present at the court. Officer Enari, who works at the Tafuna Correctional Facility, is scheduled to have a status hearing on his case in the next two weeks.

JURY TRIAL FOR SEX CASE POSTPONED TO DECEMBER

Associate Justice Lyle L Richmond has granted the government’s motion to postpone the jury trial of Mike Kim and Motau Samani, who are charged in connection with a sexual act involving a minor in 2010.

Deputy Attorney General Mitzie Jessop Folau told the court that the government’s lab technician, who will be testifying pertaining to the DNA involved in this matter, will not be available until after August.

Folau said the lab technician has personal obligations and just obtained a new job, which has led to the delay of his travel to American Samoa for this case.

Kim’s lawyer, Fiti Sunia, told the court that his client has been very patient, and asked the court to have the trial in December, because September and November are not good months for him.

Richmond then scheduled the jury trial for this case in December. The Deputy AG told the court that she’ll make sure that her witness will come down in December 2012.

According to court filings, the alleged incident occurred on June 29, 2010 and the victim involved was a-17-year old girl.

The third defendant in this matter, Police officer Atoe, is accused of allegedly trying to cover up the alleged sexual incident when he asked the victim’s father to go to the police and withdraw his complaint against Kim. Atoe is charged with witness tampering and concealing an offense. His case is also pending in the High Court.