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Man arrested for allegedly stealing $1,200 cash after punching cashier

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ausage@samoanews.com
As I was walking towards the cashier, someone was pushing my heart” to do it, Mose told police

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of punching the cashier inside a store in the Tafuna area two weeks ago and then taking off with $1,200 cash was arrested by police last week pursuant to an arrest warrant from the court.

Sio Mose made his initial appearance in District Court last week. He’s represented by Assistant Public Defender Bob Stuart, while prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Laura Garvey.

Mose, who is on probation for a stealing conviction five years ago is charged with 3 counts, including one count of robbery in the first degree; one count of stealing; both felonies; along with a class A misdemeanor charge of 3rd degree assault.

Judge Elvis P. Patea set bail for Mose at $20,000.

Preliminary examination is set for Friday next week, Mar. 20th at 1p.m.

The defense attorney asked the court to reduce his client’s bail to $5,000, saying that the case against him is just an allegation, and he has no prior record. Stuart further stated to the court that his client is a hard-working man who provides for his family and this family really needs him to support them financially.

The prosecutor on the other hand strongly opposed the defense’s motion. Garvey told the court that the defendant’s action was very serious and he’s also a danger to the community and a flight risk too.

Patea denied the defense’s motion.

THE CASE

The government claims that on Aug. 12, 2019 around 9:52 p.m, the owner of an Asian store in the Tafuna area called the Tafuna Substation, regarding a male individual, who stole $1,200 from his store, along with several items.

Several police officers responded to the call and spoke to the caller — the store owner and the victim in this case. According to the victim’s verbal statement to police, that it was while he was counting his money getting ready to close the shop that an unknown male individual walked in, grabbed 2 bottles of beer; 2 medium sized cans of pisupo and cigarettes and walked towards him.

He then asked him for an identification card to verify how old he was, when all of a sudden, he got shoved by the unknown male individual. He fell to the ground while the suspect fled on foot. He then got up, called out to his wife and another Asian employee and they all went outside looking for the individual.

However, the suspect had taken off and was nowhere to be found. The victim stated that the amount of money the suspect took was $1,200.

He was able to show police footage of the incident.

The victim did not sustain any physical injuries, so, no medical assistance was needed.

Officers searched for the suspect, identified in the footage, that night unsuccessfully.

On the following day around 4:30 p.m, officers followed up on the case where they met with two male individuals who were able to identify the male in the footage. The two males from Tafuna told police that the person in the footage was Sio Mose, who worked at a warehouse in Nuuuli. The warehouse was identified as in the cannery compound in Tafuna.

A warehouse official was then contacted and it was confirmed that Mose was at the compound at that time. Officers proceeded there and picked up the suspect and escorted him to the police station for questioning.

Mose refused at first to make a statement to police when he was questioned regarding the incident; however, later while awaiting transport to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF), the suspect informed one of the officers that he wanted to make a statement about what actually happened.

According to Mose’s statement, the incident happened when he first entered the store and saw that the male cashier (victim) was counting money on the counter, and he just went in and bought one bottle of beer and went back outside.

After drinking his beer outside of the store for about 20 minutes, he then decided to go back inside with the only purpose — his plan in mind — to steal the money the cashier was counting.

He went straight to the fridge, grabbed 2 bottles of beer; 2 cans of pisupo and cigarettes and walked back towards the cashier.

“As I was walking towards the cashier, someone was pushing my heart and said, do it right now before it’s too late. Push him and take everything and go because you really need money to support yourself,” Mose told police.

Once he was close to the cashier, Mose said he immediately shoved him causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. He then reached over the counter and took the money, which was located underneath the cashier’s counter then fled on foot while the victim pursued him.

Mose further stated to police that the reason for his actions was because he needed money to buy food for him and his family. He then said that after he took the money, he went to the nearby bushes and hid $1,000 and took just $200. He also stated that after he left the scene, he ran into a friend (unknown individual that the suspect refused to identify), who was able to give him a cellphone and call for a taxi. He was then picked up by a taxi and went to his sister’s house, bought some groceries and then headed back to his house.

Officers went to the scene where Mose stated that he had hid the rest of the money, however, their search was unsuccessful, the money was not recovered.