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Court Report

WOMAN CHARGED WITH FORGERY AND STEALING

 Former employee of Kooline Refrigeration, Segauai Toesea is facing charges of stealing and forgery on allegations that she forged two checks belonging to the company. The 21-year old woman made her initial appearance in the District Court earlier this week, and District Court Judge Pro-Tempore Elvis Patea presided over the matter. 

The forgery and stealing counts are both class C felonies which are punishable with up to five years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000 or both.

According to the government’s case Toesea, who was employed at Kooline for just a few months, forged checks she wrote in her name and cashed them for her personal use. It’s alleged both checks together totaled more than $1,000.

The defendant, who’s held on bail of $10,000 is scheduled to appear this Thursday for her preliminary examination (PX) hearing, where the court will determine if the government has sufficient evidence to have this case bound over to the High Court for further proceedings. The defendant is represented by Assistant Public Defender Karen Shelley while prosecuting is Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Hyde.

CASE OF FORMER INSURANCE EMPLOYEES IN HIGH COURT

Two former employees of Florence Saulo and Associates Insurance company will be arraigned in the High Court today on allegations of misappropriating funds of more than $10,000 belonging to the company.

Priscilla Toelei’u and Herema Taupau are each charged with embezzlement, a class C felony which is punishable up to seven years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from commission of said crime up to $20,000,  or both fine and imprisonment.

The defendants were scheduled to have their preliminary examinations in the District Court on Tuesday however they both waived their rights to the PX hearing. Presiding in this matter is District Court Judge Pro-Tempore Elvis Patea.

Toelei’u is out on bail, while Herema remains in custody with bail set at $15,000 each.

According to the government’s case, on September 7, 2011 the Department of Public Safety received a letter from the President of Florence Saulo and Associates (FSA) Vui Florence Saulo requesting a criminal investigation of two former employees on allegations they had misappropriated company funds close to $12,000.

The matter was uncovered when one of the managers, Adonis Guarin was going through his master file for car insurance policies issued in 2010, and noticed that there were duplicate policy numbers issued to different clients.

According to the government’s case Guarin, told police that after reviewing his files they found out there were a total of 58 policies issued without a record of payment in the company’s system.

Tapau and Toelei’u allegedly told police they have been taking money from FSA since the beginning of 2010 and they received tips from between $500 and $700.

The pair told police that they took over $4,000, which clients had paid for their insurance; however records indicate the amount of money missing was closer to $12,000.