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Late test on ‘white powdery substance’ leads to delayed arrest

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ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man allegedly found with a glass pipe containing methamphetamine in his vehicle when police pulled him over for a traffic violation almost two years ago was finally arrested and charged.

The question as to why the government waited so long to charge Feagaiga Amosa in this case is still unanswered.

According to the government’s case, two traffic police officers patrolling the Tafuna area on Oc. 21, 2018 observed a vehicle heading westbound at a high speed. Officers followed the vehicle and made a traffic stop in front of American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) headquarters in Tafuna.

Officers approached the driver of the vehicle and informed him of the reason for the stop. The driver of the vehicle was later identified as Feagaiga Amosa, the defendant in this case. When asked for his driver’s license, Amosa told police he had forgotten his driver’s license at home, and had no other form of photo identification on him.

Police then informed Amosa that they were going to impound his vehicle because he didn’t have a driver’s license, and he was also being transported to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) for further investigation.

Before Amosa was transported to the TPS, police conducted a body search on him and nothing was found. The search then moved to the vehicle where police discovered a black pouch between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat. Inside the black pouch was a glass pipe containing white powdery substance.

The white powder was later tested and the result was positive for methamphetamine.

After being Mirandized, Amosa refused to make a statement to police regarding the glass pipe containing methamphetamine.

Amosa was arrested by police last month and made his initial appearance before Judge Elvis P. Patea.

He is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a felony.

Bail is set at $5,000.

THE PX

It was during the preliminary examination (PX) that the government called their only witness to the stand, Det. Toia Levao, who was also the lead investigator in this case.

In cross examination, the defense attorney asked about the timeline for the testing for the white powder contained inside the glass pipe. Det. Levao stated to the court that the test was conducted after Amosa was released from the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) where he was held for 48 hours.