Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 31-year-old father who was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of illegal drugs after his 1-year-old son was admitted to the LBJ Hospital for methamphetamine intoxication was ordered to serve a term of imprisonment of 5 years at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF).

Lewis Lokeni, who was described by the court as person who is a danger to young children has two separate cases filed against him by the government.

In the a case that is still pending in District Court, the government is charging Loken for endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

In the case that was adjudicated, Lokeni was convicted with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, to wit; methamphetamine, after he appeared in High Court last Friday for sentencing.

Lokeni, who is not new to the court system (he also appeared in court last week for a Deposition Hearing, for failure to comply with conditions of a 2013 probation) was represented by Public Defender Michael White, while prosecuting the case was Assistant Attorney General Christy Dunn.

When given to chance to address the court, Lokeni apologized to the court, the government and the people of American Samoa for his action. He also apologized to his church, village and especially to his family for continuing to be a black sheep in the family, by breaking the law many times.

Lokeni told the court that the time he spent in jail gave him the opportunity to be remorseful, and he now knows that prison is not a good place for him. He begged the court for another chance to go back home and care for his family. Moreover, he promised the court that he would never break anymore laws of the territory, but he will use his chance wisely by being a good father to his son and a useful person to his family.

His defense attorney told the court that Lokeni has a serious drug problem that needs to be addressed. White told the court that he has already advised Lokeni of his mistakes and if he continues to live that type of lifestyle, he would never learn a lesson and he would be useless to his family in the future.

White asked the court for a probated sentence, to allow Lokeni the opportunity to address his drug addiction problem.

Prosecutor Dunn asked the court to follow the recommendation from the Pre Sentence Report (PSR), to order Lokeni to serve a period of detention at the TCF.

Chief Justice Michael Kruse also wanted to hear submissions from both counsels regarding Lokeni’s Deposition Hearing — where he failed to comply with conditions of his 2013 probation.

White asked that if the court wished to sentence his client to a term of imprisonment, he asked that both sentences run concurrently. Furthermore, he also asked the court to grant his client a chance for a work release so that he could get the chance to seek employment, not only to pay his fine but to provide financial support for his family.

After a long period of deliberation with his Associate Judges, Kruse recapped the court about the defendant’s case.

According to Kruse, the government claimed that a 1-year-old child was rushed to the LBJ Hospital in May of this year and later admitted for methamphetamine intoxication. A report from the hospital official was submitted to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) about the incident, and Detectives from the DPS Vice and Narcotics Unit were assigned to investigate this matter.

Family members told police that the defendant smoked methamphetamine in the presence of his infant, and this caused problems to the child’s health and the child was later rushed to the hospital to see a doctor.

On June 12, 2018, police officers observed the defendant in front of a store in Fagaima, and they immediately approached and informed him of the warrant that was issued by the court for his arrest.

The defendant was then escorted to a police unit, put in handcuffs and while being patted down for weapons, a clear ziploc baggie fell from the front right side of his shorts.

Within the clear baggie appeared to be a 1-inch hand rolled joint covered with a piece of cardboard. Police also found a broken glass pipe (commonly used to smoke meth containing white crystalline substance residue inside his hat.

For the case where Lokeni was convicted for unlawful possession of methamphetamine, the court sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of 5 years.

For the case where he violated conditions of his 2013 probation, Kruse did not revoke his probation, but he added one condition to the existing conditions, which is, the defendant must submit himself for monthly testing, and if he tested positive for alcohol or any illegal drugs, the court would then move to revoke his 2013 probation.

Kruse also ordered Probation to make sure the court received a monthly report on the status of the defendant’s drug testing. He also told Probation that he would hold somebody in contempt if they failed to provide a monthly drug test report for the defendant.

Kruse turned to Lokeni and his defense attorney and said, “The court also does know that this defendant is a danger to young children. Not only the victim from his prior conviction was a minor, but this new case was about his own little child who was found with methamphetamine in his body.”

BACKGROUND

Lokeni was one of the four men the High Court sentenced to serve a period of detention of 28 months back in July of 2013, after they were convicted for having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Lokeni, along with three other young men were each convicted for sexual assault, a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000 or both, and endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor that carries a jail term of up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.

The incident that Lokeni and his co-defendant were convicted with came to light when a truancy officer at Lupelele Elementary School contacted police about a possible sex case after observing “love bite marks” on a 14-year-old girl’s neck. During the investigation, the victim told police that she had engaged in sexual intercourse with the four defendants, at different times, from August 2011 to April 2012. All 4 defendants including Lokeni admitted to having sex with the minor.