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Man facing mutiple weapons charges will serve jail time, probation revoked

Territorial Correctional Facility, TCF
reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Simanu Tofa was sentenced this past Monday following a plea agreement that was accepted by the District Court.

Tofa, charged in three separate criminal matters, not including an order to show case for probation revocation and a High Court case that is set to go to a jury trial, appeared before Judge Elvis P. Patea for a pretrial conference.

For his first case, Tofa was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm. For the second case, he was charged with misdemeanors including third degree assault and property damage. In the third  case, he was charged with stealing.

The order to show case for probation revocation, according to information revealed in court, references the three aforementioned cases - it shows that Tofa failed to be law abiding, which was one of the conditions of probation.

Under a plea agreement with the government, Tofa pled guilty to the sole count of stealing in the third case, and possession of an unlicensed firearm in the first case. In return, the second case — in its entirety — was dismissed.

With his guilty plea in the first case, Tofa admits that on Dec. 1, 2018, he had in his pocket, an unlicensed pistol that was discovered by cops when they pulled over the car he was in.

For his guilty plea to stealing, Tofa admits that on August 5, 2018, he stole bags of fertilizer (valued at $150) and sold it to a taxi driver who later identified Tofa as the seller.

When given a chance to speak, Tofa apologized for his actions.

In rendering sentence, Judge Patea said he reviewed all four case files "carefully" in an effort to decipher the dates (arrests and warrants). Judge Patea noted that in the first case, Tofa was taken into custody on Dec. 1, 2018 and while there, he was served with the complaints for the two other cases against him.

In the third case, Tofa was served on Feb. 1, 2019 and an order to show cause was served a week earlier, on Jan. 24, 2019

Altogether, according to the court, Tofa has served 32 days in confinement for the order to show cause; 86 in jail for the first case; and 24 days at TCF for the third case.

His sentence is as follows: for the order to show cause, Tofa's probation was revoked and he is required to serve the 90-day prison term that was suspended when he was sentenced to 12-months probation last September. He is credited with 32 days time served.

For the first case, Tofa was sentenced to 120 days in jail, and he is credited with 86 days time served. For the third case, the court handed down a sentence of 90 days imprisonment, credited with 24 days time served. This means Tofa will spend 158 days in jail.

Meanwhile, his case in High Court, according to his defense attorney, is set for a jury trial.