Faulty coin box leads to alleged assault

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On July 26, 2025, Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) received a call from a businesswoman who claimed that a customer had assaulted her husband at their laundromat.

The customer was arrested and charged with:

Count 1: Public Peace Disturbance, a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of $500, or both imprisonment and fine; and,

Count 2: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $500.

According to the court affidavit, on July 26th, at around 2:00 p.m., the TPS received a call from a woman (later identified as the reporter) who reported an alleged assault.

The reporter stated that her husband (later identified as the victim) was allegedly assaulted by a man (later identified as the suspect) at Luisa’s Laundromat in Iliiili.

 Upon arrival at the scene, police officers saw the suspect, later identified as Vaga Alo, walking outside the laundromat. The officers also observed the victim at the scene with a bleeding nose.

The officers met with the reporter, who briefed them on the situation, while the suspect was apprehended and placed inside a police unit to be transported to the police station.

According to the reporter, the suspect was mad because one of the washing machines he was using wasn’t working. She noted that she refunded the suspect’s money.

However, when the suspect was done using the washer, he proceeded to the dryer and got mad because the dryer’s filter was dirty. The suspect cleaned the dryer’s filter. But, she said she got angry when the suspect slammed the filter while cleaning it. She confronted the suspect and told him not to slam the filter and demanded that the suspect leave the laundromat.

However, the suspect told her that he would finish his laundry first and then leave. She further stated that they got into a verbal argument, and when the victim saw this, he stepped in and tried to separate them, but the suspect punched the victim in the face. The victim’s nose bled, and more people at the laundromat intervened and separated them from the suspect.

The authorities requested to view the video footage to confirm what had happened. According to the video footage, the suspect was observed loading his laundry inside the dryer while arguing with the reporter. The reporter was also observed holding the suspect as if she were trying to stop the suspect from loading his laundry into the dryer. The victim was then seen walking towards where the suspect and reporter were, and tried to separate the reporter from the suspect.

The suspect was later seen holding the victim’s shirt and pushing him. The reporter then punched the suspect multiple times, trying to take the suspect’s hands away from the victim’s shirt.

As a result, the suspect punched the victim in the face while the reporter was hitting the suspect with a broom.

Due to the lack of EMS unit availability, the reporter was told to take the victim to the hospital while the officers transported the suspect to the police station for further investigation.

Upon arrival at the TPS, the suspect was Mirandized, in which he understood and agreed to make a statement.

According to the suspect, he stated that he was losing money, but the reporter did not want to refund his money. He explained that she came later and refunded his money when he was almost done with his laundry.

The suspect claimed that he got mad at the reporter for not cleaning the dryer’s filter, and he stated that she should be responsible for cleaning the filters.

Furthermore, as he was loading his laundry into the dryer, the reporter came and stopped him and started a disturbance by yelling profanities at him. The suspect further stated that the reporter was the first one to touch him, and she hit him with a broom.

When the suspect was asked why he punched the victim, he stated that the reporter was a female and he does [not] hit women. Therefore, he punched the victim, who was the reporter’s husband.

The suspect was later booked and confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility, to wait the next available sitting of the District Court.

On July 27th, authorities followed up with the reporter regarding the victim’s injuries, and they were told that the victim was admitted to the surgical ward, to await surgery for his swollen nose.

Authorities later received the medical report from the reporter stating that the victim will be hospitalized for a week. The victim was discharged on August 2, 2025, after a successful surgery.

The defendant is identified as a 47-year-old U.S. national.