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Man arrested for DUI and harassing his ex-wife and children

COURT REPORT
Charged with criminal contempt as well
oey@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A pre-trial conference was held for Pepa Kakau Latu yesterday, Wednesday, May 31, 2023 on charges of one count of private peace disturbance, one count of criminal contempt and one count of driving under the influence. 

It is reported that on July 10, 2022 at 12:50 AM, a woman called the Tafuna Police Substation to report that her ex-husband had allegedly come to her residence in Aoloau and acted aggressively towards her family members, making unreasonable noises and demanding to see his children. 

As responding officers approached the Aoloau Catholic church, they observed a vehicle heading south and abruptly made a left turn into the church parking lot, nearly colliding with the patrol unit. The officers then turned around to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle and observed the driver exit his vehicle and rush to the passenger side to look underneath the front tire. 

The driver was then asked for identification, to which the driver replied that his name was Pepa Latu and that he did not have identification on him. The scent of alcohol was detected throughout the altercation, and an unsealed can of beer was observed in the middle of the front seats. 

The officers then contacted the woman who had made the initial call and asked of the whereabouts of her ex-husband, to which she stated “that he had left their residence in a small vehicle” and provided the license plate numbers. 

The driver was then asked to perform the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and failed all three parts of the test, and blew a B.A.C of 0.176%.

It was later discovered that Latu was in violation of a court order pertaining to him, where the defendant was not to harm, attempt to harm, threaten, follow, stalk, bother, harass, annoy or contact the victim and her children. 

Latu has posted a bail in the amount of $500.