Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man with an outstanding warrant from last year for burglarizing a store and stealing several items was arrested last week and is now in custody.

Michael Mikaele made his initial appearance before District Court Judge Elvis P. Patea last week. He is represented by Assistant Public Defender Ryan Anderson, while Assistant Attorney General Jason Mitchell is prosecuting.

Mikaele is charged with first degree burglary and stealing, both class C felonies.

Bond is set at $5,000

If he is able to post bond, Mikaele is to remain law abiding, not leave or attempt to leave the territory without the court’s permission, and not make any direct or indirect contact with the government’s witnesses and the victim.

A preliminary hearing is set for this Friday.

THE CASE

According to the government, on Oct. 20, 2018 the owner of Tutuila Store in Nuuuli contacted the DPS Tafuna Substation to report a burglary.

Police who responded were informed by the storeowner that they had sealed the point of entry to the warehouse due to strong winds and heavy rains.

The storeowner said he was notified by his employees, that the wall on the north corner of the warehouse had been forcibly opened outwards.

Officers proceeded to nearby neighbors to ask if they had heard or seen anything but they said they were asleep and didn’t see or hear anything.

 Three days later, on the morning of Oct. 23rd, police got a lead when another businessman walked into the Tafuna Substation and informed the Watch Commander that he had received a call from one of his volleyball players who told him that he had some information regarding the burglarizing of not only the Tutuila Store warehouse, but another warehouse in Nuuuli.

According to the government, both warehouses were burglarized the same night.

According to the witness, Mikaele and another man by the name of Simanu Tofa were the ones who broke into the warehouses.

The witness told police that on Oct. 20th, 2018 he was walking past the Tutuila Store Warehouse on his way to buy cigarettes when he met up with Simanu and Mikaele.

The two suspects, according to the witness, were sitting by boxes of bowls and they told him the boxes were from inside the Tutuila Store Warehouse.

Later that day, the witness said he walked past the area and saw the covers for the bowls, as well as torn up boxes scattered in the area where Simanu and Mikaele were sitting earlier when he first saw them.

The witness told police that according to Simanu and Mikaele, they first broke into the Tutuila Store Warehouse before they hit up another warehouse, also located in Nuuuli.

The owner of the second warehouse confirmed to police that the cost of items that were stolen from his warehouse exceeded $1,300.

Simanu was arrested last October and his case is still pending in High Court.

Mikaele was arrested last week, and his case is still in District Court.