Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A woman accused of stealing from another woman after selling her vehicle to her for $32,000 is now in custody after she was arrested this week. The woman who bought the vehicle returned the vehicle after becoming skeptical that the deal was “legitimate” when problems with the original title of ownership surfaced.

The defendant was served with a ‘stop order’ from the Attorney General’s office to stop her from fleeing the territory before she was served with the arrest warrant.

The defendant, Mariamakulata Siua-Gaoteote, also known as Maria Gaoteote made her initial appearance in Court this week.

She is charged with a single count of stealing, a class C felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 7 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to maximum of $20,000 or both such fine and imprisonment.

Bail is set at $10,000.

THE ALLEGATION

On the morning of May 9, 2022 around 9am, a woman walked into the DPS Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to file a criminal complaint against Mariamakulata Siua-Gaoteote, a.k.a Maria Gaoteote. The woman was later identified as the victim in this case.

According to the victim’s statement, she had purchased a vehicle from the defendant on Jan. 27, 2022, which was a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Truck, using a Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) Auto Loan check valued at $32,000.

The victim stated that Gaoteote promised her that she would fix a dent, replace the AC condenser, fix the inside car light, replace the tires with new ones, fix the door panel, sun visor clip, replace the keyless entry remote key fob with a new one because the original didn’t work, and service the car for free for 6 months at Lote’s Auto Shop in Tafuna.

The victim stated that on Feb. 8, 2022 she called the NFCU to confirm if they had received the original title of ownership for the vehicle and according to them, they still had not received it. According to the victim, she became skeptical that the deal was legitimate because Gaoteote was giving her the run around and all she was asking for was the title so she could continue with her loan payments.

On the evening of Apr. 28, around 5pm, the victim met with Gaoteote and returned the vehicle and requested that she return her $32,000.

She told investigators that she provided a copy of their conversation on the Facebook Messenger App on dates Apr. 28 and May 04 telling her that the bank United Services Automobile Association (USAA) Bank was processing the check and would send the confirmation as soon as they got it.

On the morning of May 09, investigators contacted Gaoteote via phone asking her if she could make her way to the CID officer to discuss the matter on hand. Almost an hour later, Gaoteote met with investigators and she was able to provide a verbal statement to the investigators regarding the matter.

According to Gaoteote, she stated that $32,000 was deposited into her bank account at the USAA. She explained that when the victim returned the vehicle to her due to the long wait for the title, the victim demanded her money back. Gaoteote further stated that she deposited the check into her USAA, therefore, she contacted the Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) on how to move $32,000 to the victim, and in the meantime, wanted to take back the Vin Number of her vehicle that was used for the victim’s loan from the NFCU.

Gaoteote also told investigators that the NFCU provided her a recommended account number and routing number to wire transfer the $32,000. She stated that the NFCU didn’t want her to send the money to the victim due to the reason that in order for them (the Gaoteote couple) to retain the vin number, there was a certain way that the NFCU recommended. Gaoteote left the CID office after she was interviewed by investigators.

After Gaoteote left the CID office, investigators went to the DPS Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) in Tafuna to confirm the registered owner of the vehicle and it revealed that Gaoteote was the primary owner of the vehicle and the primary lien holder has been “on hold” since July 26, 2021.

The OMV manager told investigators that when Gaoteote come into their office to register the mentioned vehicle, she (defendant) was never able to present any proof of the original title to them, but the OMV employee when ahead and registered the vehicle so that it could be operated on the public highways of American Samoa. Therefore, the OMV registered the vehicle with the primary owner as Gaoteote while the primary lien holder was ‘on hold’.

On the afternoon of May 10, investigators contacted Gaoteote to come into the CID office for another interview and she agreed saying that she would come later after her office meeting in Tafuna.

When Gaoteote arrived at the CID office, she provided a verbal statement about what happened.

When asked by investigators if she could provide any proof of her transferring the paper check — value of $32,000 — to their USAA bank account, Gaoteote stated that she can, while searching on her personal smartphone for about 2-3 minutes she told investigators that she just remembered that she transferred it into her business account at the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS).

Investigators then asked Gaoteote if it would be easier for her just to transfer from her TBAS account to the victim’s NFCU account. Gaoteote stated that after withdrawing the $32,000 from her TBAS account she closed it because according to her she had problems with the bank.

Investigators asked her how she transferred it to her USAA bank account and she stated that she utilized the Pay Pal App to transfer the whole amount ($32,000) to her USAA bank account.

Investigators then told Gaoteote that she can’t send physical paper money over the Pay Pal App and just don’t say anything more. She then asked for more time — about one week — and she would look into ways on how to pay back the full amount to the victim.

On May 11, the Attorney General’s office issued a stop order on Gaoteote at the request of DPS.

On the afternoon of the same date, Gaoteote was served with a copy of the stop order at the CID office. She promised to investigators that her brother Lote is working with her on how to pay back the money and would they give her until Monday, May 16, 2022 to work things out.