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He came to court for a hearing, tested positive for meth and Judge Sunia sent him to jail

District Court Judge Fiti Sunia
reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —  A probationer who appeared in District Court yesterday morning for a status hearing ended up being remanded to police custody.

When Nicholas Nauer was placed on probation for a previous matter, one of the conditions included him getting his immigration status updated. However, yesterday morning, during court proceedings, the court was informed by an Immigration officer that Nauer had not yet obtained a new ID.

"What's going on?" District Court Judge Fiti Sunia asked.

Nauer responded that he is waiting for his parents to return from Apia. When asked if his parents are his sponsors, Nauer said no.

Judge Sunia told Nauer that he is in court because the Probation Office wants to revoke his probation, claiming he violated the condition requiring him to get a new ID.

It was then revealed by Assistant Attorney General Jason Mitchell that Nauer had just tested positive for meth.

Prior to court proceedings, an immigration officer who was in court asked Nauer for his ID. Nauer told the Immigration officer that the Probation Office was holding it. The Immigration officer then instructed Nauer to go get it.

It was when Nauer inquired about his ID that a probation officer administered a drug test, which came back positive for meth.

Upon being informed, Judge Sunia ordered that Nauer be remanded to custody at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) and he is to appear in court again today.

BACKGROUND

According to Samoa News archives, Nauer was picked up by cops and later charged in 2017 for assaulting his sister with the broken wooden handle of a hammer — while she was carrying her infant baby.

In that case, Nauer was convicted of private peace disturbance, third degree assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. Consequently, he was sentenced to 24 months probation, with the condition that he serve 15 days at the TCF.

But Nauer was already serving an 18-month probation term from a 2015 case for which he was convicted of third degree assault and public peace disturbance. He was nearing the completion of that probation term when he was arrested for assaulting his sister.