The second of the four Public Safety officers assigned to the Juvenile Detention Center, appeared in District Court yesterday for a preliminary examination hearing, where details of the charges, including several felony counts, were made public for the first time.

Following the hearing, District Court Judge Fiti A. Sunia bound over to High Court the government’s case against officer Olafau Wilson, who remains in custody with $75,000 bail imposed. He will be arraigned in High Court today, along with another officer, Alofagia Letuli, whose preliminary examination hearing was held Wednesday in District Court. (See yesterday’s edition for details.)

Sunia had ordered court staff not to release the charging documents for Wilson and Letuli, as well as two other officers, Junior Utuga, Okesene Alo because they contain names of juveniles.

In open court yesterday, it was revealed Wilson is facing 15 counts, including 12 felonies — two counts of unlawful possession of illegal substance, (crystal meth; two counts of unlawful distribution of crystal meth; one felony stealing; three counts of aiding escape of a prisoner; three counts of permitting the escape of a prisoner and tampering with a witness.

He was also charged with two counts of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and one count of misdemeanor stealing. However, the court dismissed for lack of evidence the tampering with a witness count.

During the preliminary examination hearing, Public Defender Douglas Fiaui represented Wilson and prosecuting the case was assistant attorney general Jedediah Bigelow, who called one government witness, police Det. Filemoni Amituana’i, the lead investigator into misconduct at the JDC.

At the start of the hearing, Fiaui quickly moved for Sunia to recuse himself since he was the judge who signed the arrest warrant for all four officers. The motion was denied, saying the court has already set regulations on guidelines to carry out administration of the Judicial Branch.

Based on Amituana’i’s testimony, three juvenile detainees were involved in the charges against Wilson. And the detainees were only identified in a police report as Victim #2, Victim #3 and Victim #6.

Amituana’i recalled a statement from Victim #2, who said that on one night Wilson took Victim #2, Victim #3, and Victim #6 from JDC and they all went to a nearby restaurant, to wait for families of the three juveniles, in order to get money.

Victim #2 also told Amituana’i that there was an incident in which Victim #2 was ordered by Wilson to break into the file cabinet inside an office designated to the Education Department for education purposes for the detainees. A laptop was taken from the file cabinet and Wilson took it home with him.

Amituana’i testified that ASDOE confirmed to him that two laptops are missing from their office at JDC and both laptops cost around $2,000.

After questioning Amituana’i for several minutes, Fiaui argued that the charges against Wilson are allegations based on interviews and statements but no physical evidence. He also argued that the juvenile detainees were interviewed without their parents present.

However, Amituana’i countered that parents were not present for the mere fact that it was not an investigation against the juveniles.

In the end, Sunia ruled that the government has sufficient evidence to support 14 of the 15 counts against the defendant. (See today’s Lali section of Samoa News for Samoan story.)