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Man accused of stealing left some ‘personal items’ at the scene

American Samoa High Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of burglarizing a home in Ottoville and stealing several personal items is now in custody after he was arrested last month. During his arrest, the suspect was served with a copy of a bench warrant for failure to appear for a court hearing.

The suspect, Ualolo Paris Fatulau appeared in District Court last month where he waived his rights to a preliminary hearing and later appeared in High Court last week for arraignment

Fatulau is charged with 1st- degree burglary and stealing, both class C felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years imprisonment, a fine of up to $5,000.

Bail is set at $10,000.

THE CASE

Investigation reveals that on July 15, 2022 at about 4:50a.m., the victim contacted the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report a burglary in progress at his home in Ottoville near Cardinal Pio Street and he was in pursuit of the unknown individual who was fleeing from this home with the stolen items in his possession.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the victim who briefed officers about what had happened.

According to the victim’s statement, he was sleeping when he heard a faint noise like footsteps coming from within his home. Thinking it was rats, he stood up and walked towards the living room to turn on the lights and he saw an individual wearing a red shirt and long black pants standing inside his home.

The victim also stated that when he confronted the man, he ran out of the front door. The homeowner then pursued the unknown male towards the dirt road across from this home but the culprit got away.

The victim stated to police that when the pursuit was unsuccessful he went back to his home to see what was missing and saw that his car keys and his black 14 inch laptop valued at $1,300 and two External hard drives worth about $150 each were missing from his home.

The victim also stated as he was going through his stuff he discovered that the person who burglarized his home left behind a Nokia black and gray cell phone that was on his living room couch. The victim further stated that the bike the man used to come to his house to commit the crime was also left outside of his garage.

As the victim was conducting a quick inventory of his property he informed the officers that he had a surveillance camera installed outside of his garage. Upon reviewing the camera footage, officers observed a male wearing a tank top with long pants standing in the victim’s garage driveway looking around and saw the male going through the trunk of the vehicle and then continuing to go through the vehicle’s back seat. 

The male then left the garage and went to the side of the house and was out of the camera’s view for some time before re-appearing and then vanishing.

After viewing the footage, officers were able to identify the male as Ualolo Paris Fatulua, who was a suspect in multiple burglaries in the Tafuna area.

Once officers were able to identify the suspect in this case, they conducted a quick canvas of the area in an effort to find more clues. While canvassing the area officers observed a wet toilet paper roll and a pile of fresh feces on the grass, where the suspect was last seen during the alleged burglary.

The victim stated that he owned the white toilet paper roll and said that it was last seen in his car. Photographs were taken by investigators and the evidence collected. After interviewing the victim, officers also confiscated the Nokia black and gray cell phone, a navy blue Bic lighter and the bike from the scene.

Afterwards officers continued to look for Fatulua, but the search was unsuccessful.

On July 15, 2022, one of the investigators was informed that the suspect had an outstanding bench warrant for a probation violation. This information was relayed to all police stations by Central dispatch and everyone was aware of the situation.

On the same morning of July 15, an anonymous caller contacted the TPS to report that he observed the suspect standing in front of a store in Fagaima and he needed immediate response from police to arrest the suspect.

Investigators arrived at the scene and apprehended the suspect and transported him to the TPS to be processed. Upon arrival at the TPS, EMS was also contacted to treat the suspect at the station for minor injuries.

The suspect was informed by investigators that the court had issued a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court. He was served with a copy of the warrant.

The suspect was then Mirandized and he waived his rights and was willing to make a statement and answer questions.

According to the suspect he was innocent and the accusation against him was false. While interrogating the suspect, investigators contacted the victim to come into the TPS to ID the suspect, which he did. The victim positively identified Fatulua.

On the same morning, officers informed investigators that there was a witness who was able to identify the suspect wearing the same attire and riding the bike that was found near the crime scene.

According to the witness, he stated that around 3:49a.m he woke up to get ready for his morning run and while he was smoking a cigarette outside his apartment balcony at Tumu’s, he noticed a male wearing a tank top — he was not sure if it was pink or red — riding a pink and purple bicycle, which he was able to identify as Fatulau, who usually goes to court to sign in for his monthly visits.

Furthermore once he was able to identify the suspect, the witness said he immediately contacted and informed a police detective that the suspect has an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest from the Court.