Acting warden accepts blame for inmate’s apparent probation violation

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The High Court was satisfied that an inmate serving a 40-month sentence did not violate conditions of his probation. Therefore, the inmate, Sonny Mu Kelemete is now remanded back to the custody of the Territory Correctional Facility (TCF) to continue serving his detention.

Kelemete, 60, appeared before Chief Justice Michael Kruse last week on an Order to Show Cause (OSC) hearing. He was represented by Assistant Public Defender Rob McNeill while prosecuting the case was Assistant Attorney General Laura Garvey.

When Kelemete’s case was called the court recapped to both parties about the purpose of the OSC hearing.

According to the court, the defendant, as a condition of his probation, was not eligible for trustee duty. However, Kelemete was observed by Chief Probation officer cutting grass outside of the facility.

The court stated that the OSC was issued upon request of Probation office. The defendant, according to the court, said that “I was told to cut the grass.”

The court then issued an OSC to the TCF warden as to why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for allowing the defendant to perform a trustee duty by cutting the grass outside of the facility.

Chief of Police and Acting Warden, Foifua Foifua Jr was called to the witness stand and stated that on July 17, 2020, he was already assigned to the TCF as the TCF acting warden.

On the early morning of the above date, Foifua Jr told the court that he ordered the defendant and a group of inmates to cut the grass inside and outside of the facility compound.

When asked whether he knew that Kelemete was not eligible for trustee duty, Foifua Jr said that it was after that day when he went to the office and read the Judgment & Sentence (J&S) by the court for Kelemete, and found out that he’s not eligible to perform any trustee duty.

“It was my fault,” Foifua Jr told the court.

When asked by the government’s attorney to describe what trustees do at TCF, Foifua Jr said that a trustee is a person who works inside the office everyday alongside with police officers. But for Kelemete, he was appointed to a different group of inmates, and their duty was to clean the yard inside and outside of TCF, but not everyday.

Despite their different duty inside TCF, the acting warden told the court that he considered Kelemete as one of the trustees because he performed a duty pertaining to a trustee.

When asked how did he know that the defendant is not eligible for trustee duty, Foifua Jr said the matter came to his attention after the Chief Probation officer contacted the Watch Commander and informed him about the situation. The watch commander called him and relayed the massage, where upon he immediately instructed Kelemete to get inside the TCF.

He then went to the office and read the J&S and saw that defendant is not eligible for trustee duty.

“I blame myself for that and I know for sure that it was my fault,” Foifua Jr. said, adding that he was the one who supervised the clean up inside and outside of the facility compound.

When asked who is the permanent warden, Foifua Jr. responded by saying that it’s Va’a Sunia, who is stuck off island due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

After a brief recess, Kruse said that the court was satisfied that the witness is a substitute, however, the court advised him that whoever is assigned to the TCF, that person needs to read the J&S to make sure probationers follow court orders.

The court further stated that there are probationers the court wants to stop from having access to members of the public, and among those are drug offenders.

Kelemete is serving a 40 months sentence at the TCF after being convicted of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

During his sentencing, the court stated that Kelemete has an extensive criminal record not only in the state of Hawaii, but also in American Samoa. The sad thing about Kelemete, the court said, is that he’s well known in the system — both here and in Hawaii — but somehow he’s not learning any lessons from his previous appearances in court.