Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A couple was arrested last week on the allegation that the family found a way to tamper with the American Samoa Power Authority [ASPA) service to get power illegally — without being metered or charged.

Michelle Aetui-Fuimaono and her husband Kirk Aab made their initial appearance before Judge Elvis P. Patea this past Monday. Police are still looking for the third suspect in this case.

Aetui-Fuimaono and Aab are each charged with one count of criminal fraud, a class C felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000 each for Aetui-Fuimaono and Aab.

Preliminary hearing is set for next week.

THE CASE

The single charge against both defendants stems from an incident that occurred on the morning of Apr. 22, 2020 when the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) received a call from an ASPA representative reporting a disturbance in Futiga at the Aetui residence.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the ASPA employee, who briefed them on the alleged incident.

The ASPA employee told police that while they were performing maintenance on the utility poles in the Futiga area, one of their co-workers informed their team that the Aetui residence was illegally siphoning off electricity from the ASPA utility pole.

The maintenance work was halted and the team focused on the issue. They reviewed the utility pole and discovered that the illegal wire was buried underground to avoid detection by ASPA maintenance crews.

The crew’s field supervisor on the scene advised his crew to disconnect the illegal wire and the crew did as instructed.

According to the ASPA employee, their next step was to inform the Aetui residents regarding the alleged incident and also the action that they already had taken. When approached, both defendants were upset and asked ASPA employees — who had told ASPA that they could come onto their land without permission.

After speaking with the ASPA employee, officers then proceeded to the Aetui’s residence and met up with Aetui-Fuimaono and Aab, who were both then escorted to the Tafuna Sub-station for further discussion.

Officers also informed the three ASPA employees to come in and tell police about what happened.

According to one of the ASPA employees, while they were working on disconnecting the wire splice from the utility pole to the Aetui residence, three family members came out and began threatening them. They were Aetui-Fuimaono, her husband Aab, and her brother Ernie Aetui.

The ASPA employee told police that all three yelled profanities at them, with Aab holding a shovel and threatening to bash in their heads; while Ernie Aetui came through the front door with his rifle and went back in and came back outside and walked towards the ASPA field supervisor telling him to get off his property.

Officers asked the field supervisor about when was the last time that the Aetui family electricity was on, and he rang ASPA’s main office to check, and the main office told him that it was last year January 2019.

The last time Michelle Aetui-Fuimaono made a payment was in May 2018.

They currently owe over $6,500 on their ASPA account and they allegedly have been hooked up illegally to ASPA lines.

Another ASPA employee was interviewed by investigators and he stated that while they were working on disconnecting the illegal wire splice, they were confronted by Aetui-Fuimaono and her husband telling them to get off their property and her brother Ernie Aetui told them that he has a gun at his home.

So Ernie Aetui walked into the house and stood in front of the door showing the ASPA employees that he had a gun. He only revealed half of the weapon (just the barrel) and it looked like an old shotgun, the employee said.

After they were both warned of their rights, Aetui-Fuimaono refused to say anything to investigators while Aab agreed to answer questions regarding the alleged incident.

Ernie Aetui is currently at large.