Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A representative from Island Technologies Inc. in Faleniu has denied reports that they employed an over stayer from Fiji last year and underpaid him ($60 a week).

According to a representative, their company never hired Rusiate Tabete nor did they pay him the amount he claims they did.

The representative said Tabete is a liar.

“Our company never hired him,” she told Samoa News via- telephone interview yesterday morning.

“He came last year and asked us for work and our company offered him casual work such as cleaning the yard and helping out with other employees, but not the type of work that requires a full-time commitment or legal immigration status,” the company representative added.

She explained to Samoa News that the company knew Tabete was an over stayer and didn’t have the proper immigration papers but out of love, the company agreed to let him do casual work for 2 hours a day, 2-3 days a week, and they would compensate him.

According to the representative, the company owner and his family are also Fiji nationals.

“Tabete breached the trust the company gave him when he stole a lot of items from us and up until today, none of those stolen items have been retrieved. The value of the stolen items is over $15,000,” the representative said.

He told the court that he stole from us because he wanted to get caught, that’s not true. He never knew that we have cam- eras inside our shop. He was shocked when police showed him footage from one of our surveillance cameras, which showed the time he stole items from the shop.”

The items the company said Tabete stole include electronics such as a telephone, iPad, laptops, camera, AC parts and equipment. He also stole a vacuum cleaner, electrical tools and even kitchen knives.

“What he did was he removed the contents from the box and would leave the empty box in the shop. We kept asking him if he knew anything about the stolen items but he kept denying it. Finally when we reviewed our cameras, that was when we were sure it was him who stole them,” the representative said.

She added that after Tabete was arrested, they never heard from the Attorney General about the case, until Samoa News published the story last week.

“If it hadn’t been for the newspaper we would’ve never known that Tabete was already sentenced by the court. Our only concern is that all of the items that were stolen have never been retrieved and we are now living in the dark on how are we going to get our stuff back,” the representative said.

BACKGROUND

Rusiate Tabete — a Fijian national and an over stayer — entered American Samoa in 2015 to work as a crewmember on a fishing boat.

He appeared in High Court last week for sentencing, after he was convicted of stealing items from the Faleniu store where he worked last year.

Tabete was initially charged with 3 counts of stealing, and 3 counts of 2nd degree burglary — all Class C felonies.

But under a plea agreement with the government, Tabete pled guilty to three counts of 2^nd degree burglary and the remaining charges were dismissed.

Tabete has admitted that on Nov. 11, 2017, Dec. 2 and 7, 2017 he unlawfully entered a Feleniu store and stole merchandise and cash.

During sentencing, he told the court he was employed by Island Technologies and the company paid him $60 a week.

He said the money he received was not enough to take care of his family in Fiji and that’s the reason why he stole, because the owner betrayed him so many times, not only was he underpaid, but he was lied to when the company said it would fix his immigration status.

His attorney Michael White told the court his client was under the impression the company he worked for would fix his immigration papers. And when he found out nothing was being done, he tried to do something that’ll give him the chance to return home.

“Nobody wants to get caught when they steal from somebody else, but my client stole from his employer because he wanted to get caught, so he’d get a chance to go back to his family in Fiji,” White told the court.