Man arrested after causing disturbance in the village of Lauli’i

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On April 6, 2025, Fagatogo Police Station (FPS) received a call regarding a disturbance in the village of Lauli’i. Two suspects were allegedly disturbing the peace and throwing rocks at the reporter’s residence.

One of the suspects fled the scene and the other was arrested and later charged with Count 1: Public Peace Disturbance, a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of $500.00, or both imprisonment and fine.

The defendant’s bail was set at $500.00.

According to the court affidavit, on Apr. 6th, at around 1:20 a.m., the East Police

Substation (EPS) received a call from FPS regarding a public peace disturbance case in progress. Police officers responded to the call while being updated by the dispatcher regarding the current situation.

The dispatcher reported that a reporter (a member of the village police) claimed that he was trying to hold the suspects in place to prevent them from fleeing. However, at around 1:30 a.m., FPS received a second call concerning the same case from a second reporter.

The second reporter stated that the suspects were throwing rocks at their windows and rooftop signifying that the situation had escalated.

Upon arrival at the scene, the officers noticed multiple individuals at the crime scene. The individuals informed the officers that they were trying to locate the suspects who had fled the scene at a location where they were last seen.

One of the reporters was able to identify one of the suspects as Fa’afouina Muliau (later identified as a suspect #1), but suspect #2’s identity was unknown — the reporter said they have never seen suspect #2 before.

After searching for the suspects at the last place they were seen, authorities were able to locate Muliau who was sitting in the dark under the trees with a large pipe. The officers were able to remove the pipe from suspect #1 and apprehended him without resistance.

Muliau was escorted to the police unit. Unfortunately, the second suspect was still on the run.

Officers requested for the reporter to make his way to the FPS for further investigation and to make a statement. While escorting the suspect to the station for booking process, suspect #1 admitted that it was him and the second suspect who threw rocks at the second reporter’s home.

Muliau later identified suspect #2 as Sile Filipo. Upon arrival at the FPS, Muliau was Mirandized before he confessed that he had been drinking, but he understood his rights. The suspect refused to make a statement after he was Mirandized, therefore the officers booked and arrested

The suspect was booked and arrested.

Before escorting the suspect to the Tafuna Correctional Facility (TCF), the officers interviewed the reporter for more information and a written statement.

According to the reporter’s statement, the suspects were yelling profanities and yelling war cries (fa’aūmu) on the road in front of the church. The reporter stated that he tried to resolve the situation after calling the police because he worried that the disturbance might wake up the reverend and his wife, and also the villagers.

The suspect was transported to the TCF to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

There was no further information regarding the second suspect.

Defendant #1 is identified as a 29-year-old U.S. National and defendant #2 is identified as a 20-year-old U.S National.