Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On July 10, 2024, a female individual contacted the Fagatogo Police Station (FPS) alleging that an unknown male had snatched her bag and took off with her money and personal belongings.

The suspect was later charged with:

Count 1: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than seven years, a fine of $5,000, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $1,000.

According to the affidavit, on July 10th, at about 11:00 a.m, FPS received a phone call from a female individual reporting from the Fagatogo Marketplace that an unknown male individual snatched her satchel bag that had money inside. The caller who is also the victim explained that the suspect snatched her bag and ran off with it. She also stated that she saw him cross the street and he ran behind the Sweetie’s Fast Food.

Police officers responded to assist the victim and upon arrival they met up with the victim near the Fagatogo Methodist Church next to the Sweetie’s Fast Food. The victim briefed the officers about what happened and gave a description of what the suspect was wearing — a white T-shirt and red long pants with black stripes.

The affidavit further stated that while the officers interviewed and obtained information from the victim, they observed the suspect standing by the Methodist church. The suspect saw the officers and he turned around and ran off. One of the officers chased the suspect on foot but was unable to catch the suspect and he escaped.

However, the suspect was later identified as Anaconda Luteru from the neighbors and relatives in the area. According to one of the suspect’s relatives, the suspect is originally from another village and he gave information regarding the suspect’s family.

The victim was brought into the FPS at about 12:00 noon, where she gave a verbal and written statement regarding the incident.

According to the victim, she was selling farm vegetables at the Fagatogo Market place when three unknown male individuals approached her. The first individual asked her if she wanted to buy chicken, while the second individual just stood there and then the third male (suspect) snatched her bag that contained $200 cash, a $300 paper check, 2 sets of car keys and her gold 24-karat bracelet worth $700.

Later that day at about 1:40 p.m, the victim returned with recorded footage on her phone from the Fagatogo store behind the ABC Fax store.

The footage showed the suspect sitting in front of the store and going through the victim’s bag taking out cash and leaving several items behind like her wallet that contained important personal documents and the $300 paper check.

The officers went back to follow up at the Fagatogo Store and found one of the unknown males that was with the suspect, and was seen with the suspect in the recorded footage from the store. The unknown male was immediately detained and transported to the FPS for further investigation.

According to the unknown male, he did go to the store and ran into Luteru. He saw Luteru taking out a lot of cash from the bag so he asked him for some money. He stated that Luteru gave him $10 and he took it not knowing it was stolen money. The male individual explained that they parted ways and he had no idea where Luteru went afterwards.

The affidavit does not state when or where the suspect was arrested.

Luteru, a.k.a BJ, is identified as a 19-year-old, who resides in Aua. His nationality is not listed.

The victim is identified as residing in Pago Pago, and is from Vietnam.