Domestic abuse charge lands man in jail with no bail

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of assaulting his girlfriend outside of their house was arrested and is now in custody. When he was arrested at the scene, a glass pipe containing meth was found inside his pants pocket.

The man is charged with one count of unlawful possession of meth, an unclassified felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment from 5-10 years, a fine of up to $20,000; one count of 2nd- degree assault involving domestic violence, a class D felony, along with one count of 3rd- degree assault and PPD, both class A misdemeanors.

Due to the circumstances of what happened, the defendant is held in custody without bail.

On June 12, 2022, a woman contacted the TPS reporting that her aunt’s boyfriend was making unreasonable noises in their neighborhood, yelling out profanities and beating up her aunt at their Malaeimi residence.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the woman who reported the alleged matter. Officers arrived at the scene and observed a crowd of people gathering at the area while two men were trying to calm down another male, who was holding a beer bottle in his right hand.

He was intoxicated and when he was approached by officers. a strong odor of alcohol was emitting from his person. He was immediately placed inside a police unit and was later transported to the TPS for questioning. Before Toli was transported to the TPS, he was patted down for weapons or contraband.

During the body search, cops discovered a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance inside on Toli.

The man was having a hard time speaking when officers interviewed him but in a verbal statement from his girlfriend, she said that her boyfriend had been drinking after work since 4:40p.m and he was really upset when she asked him if she could go with a female friend to the movies.

The victim said as she was trying to explain to him her situation, her boyfriend punched her in the face causing a big lump on her forehead. He accused her of having an affair with another man and that is the reason why she wanted to go to the movie.

The victim told investigators that after the first punch, she moved backward and went inside the house. The suspect entered the room and punched her in the face multiple times and she lost consciousness. When she could see clearly again, she tried to stand up and walk outside of the room so that she could call her sister for help. However, when he saw her trying to get up, he walked over to her and dragged her back inside the room and locked the door from outside.

The victim said she was able to call out to her neighbor from the window and that’s how she managed to get in touch with her sister and her niece and tell them what happened.

The victim further told investigators that after her boyfriend dragged her back inside the room, he told her that if she tried to escape again, he would kill her.

According to the victim, this is not the first time he had assaulted her. She said she’s worried about her safety and she wanted to go back to her children in Hawaii and leave Toli in American Samoa.

The defendant was transported to TCF, where he was booked and confined.