Court Report

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An individual called Fagatogo police headquarters on August 12, 2023 at 10:19 P.M. in regard to a woman, later identified as a Juliet McCarthy, making loud noises in front of his residence.

 Officers then proceed to check out the alleged claim and upon reaching the location, officers observed the suspect swearing loudly towards the victim, while her (defendant) four-year old child was standing next to her.

Officers then met with the victim, where he told them that the suspect’s house does not have electricity but has a wire that connects from his house for electricity. The victim informed officers that the suspect came to the front door of his house and called his name. He then went to his door, and the suspect started yelling at him saying, "Why did you unplug our electricity wire from your house?"

The victim replied he unplugged it because she did not pay $50 dollars to him for the electricity usage for the last month. The aggressor then kicked the front door and started swearing at the victim in Samoan, and loudly proclaimed that she was not scared of anybody.

The suspect went back to her residence through the back side of the victim’s house and kicked the back door and swore at the victim while her child was crying next to her.

After the defendant was processed, she was transported to jail to await the next sitting of the Court. McCarthy is being charged with one count of public peace disturbance.

Bail is set at $500.00.

ALLEGED BANANA THIEF

 An individual from Vailoa contacted the Leone Police Substation (LPS) on Aug. 14, 2023 requiring police assistance when he discovered a man, later identified as Lapana Tafa, stealing stalks of banana from their plantation.

Upon arriving at the scene, officers were immediately briefed by the victim, who says that he received a call from his sister stating that an unknown individual was cutting down their banana trees and taking them without permission.

The plaintiff then went over to his sister's house and saw that Tafa had already cut down 7 stalks of bananas. Lata was detained by the family before police arrived, and told not to go anywhere until they did.

The suspect was apprehended on the scene and brought into the LPS for investigation, where Tafa was Mirandized, waived his rights and agreed to make a statement.

Tafa stated that he went to look for food when he saw a bunch of banana trees behind the plaintiff’s residence in Vailoa. He then cut down 7 stalks of bananas and after cutting them down he saw a woman, the sister, looking straight at him. She then told him to bring all 7 stalks of bananas with him to the plaintiff’s residence — which he did, placing them in front of the residence and apologized for taking the bananas from the land.

The defendant further explained that he “was just looking for some bananas to sell to the Chinese farmers to earn money so he could buy himself some food.”

The defendant further stated that his Immigration ID expired in July of this year and he had no other documents to identify himself.

Tafa was then searched by officers and discovered what appeared to be a clear glass pipe commonly used to smoke meth, in his right pocket. The evidence ws handed over to the Vice and Narcotics division.

Value of the 7 stalks of banana was estimated for a total of $60.

Tafa was then booked and confined until the sitting of district court on Aug. 15, 2023.

He is charged with two criminal counts — stealing and trespassing — with no bail posted.

There was no mention of the glass pipe in the charges.

FINDERS KEEPERS? NO WAY

Investigation disclosed that on Aug. 13, 2023, a woman reported that an unknown individual took her small clear plastic ziploc envelope that she left in a shopping cart in front of TSM in Tafuna. Court filings also revealed that her plastic envelope contained $127 in cash, $187 in food stamp vouchers, a TBAS Debit Card and Food Stamp Identification that all belong to the victim.

Immediately after arrival, officers met with the woman, who briefed the officers about the incident and also spoke to Yohan Gi, the manager of TSM store in Tafuna to view their video cameras outside the parking lot. Officers then identified the unknown individual, from previous cases, as Ronald Pickering.

In a follow-up investigation on the same day, other on duty officers observed Pickering near a business area in Nu'uuli. Pickering was then apprehended and officers found about $108 in Food Stamps Vouchers inside the suspects undergarment before he was placed in the police unit.

On the same day, Pickering was Mirandized and cooperated with officers by answering questions.

According to the defendant, he admitted, “that he found the victim's clear plastic zip envelope, so he walked to McDonald’s and opened the plastic zip envelope and found $3 cash, food stamps vouchers and a TBAS Debit Card,” all properties of the victim. He also admitted to using the debit card at the Happy Mart store in Nu’uuli, but it was declined, so he threw it away.

He added that he took everything out from the envelope, put it inside his pockets and threw the clear plastic zip envelope inside the bathroom trash at McDonald’s.

Defendant was then booked and was transported to TCF for confinement to await the next sitting of court. Pickering is being charged with misdemeanor stealing, with bail set at $400.