Man charged with burglary allegedly stole from family that had befriended him

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Repeat offender Tuuaifuaina Laki Va’apu’u aka Tony has been charged with one count of Burglary in the Second Degree, one count of Trespassing and eight counts of Stealing, after he broke into the house of a family who had befriended him awhile ago and treated him as a son.

Police were informed of the crime on May 30, 2023 by Avaio resident David Savaii who reported that someone had broken into their house.

He stated that he had been on a bus from Alofau heading into town on his way to Nu’uuli, when an unknown male later identified as Va’apu’u, stopped the bus at Avaio village right across from 2-Dollar Beach. Savaii revealed that his house was right across the road from where the defendant had stopped the bus.

When he got on the bus, Savaii noticed that he was carrying a grey backpack with white paint at the bottom and a tear on its side which was exactly identical to one that he owned and which he kept at his home. Savaii got suspicious so he took photos of the unknown individual. He said that as soon as the individual saw that he was being photographed, he covered his face and immediately stopped the bus next to a Chinese restaurant in Satala.

When Savaii arrived at their other residence in Nu’uuli, he told his mother, Mrs. Fuamatala Savaii, his suspicions and showed her the photos he took of the unknown individual. To his surprise, his mother revealed that she knew him as Tony and that he had lived with them before when he was younger.

Later that same day before the incident was reported to police, Savaii and his mother went to their other residence in Avaio to check if his suspicions were true.

When they arrived, they found that one of the window’s mesh wire was torn and it appeared that someone had broken into the house.

After a thorough inspection of the house, they discovered that his mother’s gold necklaces, earrings and two sets of pearls that had been kept in a pink jewelry box were stolen. Also stolen were eight cans of mackerel from an unopened mackerel case.

Mrs Savaii further reported that a black laptop and a blue touch-screen mobile phone, brand name Blu had also been stolen.

And it was later discovered that three other items had been stolen — a Jobrock max speaker, a brand new drill and an Omega wristwatch. The estimated value of all the items stolen was $4, 236.75.

She stated that she had identified the unknown individual they suspected of committing the crime from the photos her son took of Va’apu’u because she had taken him in and treated him like her own son several years back, but she had not seen him since then.

On June 3, 2023, David Savaii contacted police by phone saying that he had the backpack that had been stolen and that he had retrieved it from a taxi driver. He added that he had not opened it since he got it back because he wanted the police to look at it first.

The taxi driver in question, Niu Tuimalatu, upon questioning by police stated that some time on the night of June 2, 2023, an unknown male came looking for a taxi at their stand known as Fetu Ao. He recounted that the individual was carrying a grey backpack and had covered his head with a t-shirt as if trying to hide his face. Despite this, Tuimalatu said that he recognized him as Tony.

He revealed that he knew him well because they were both working together at a construction company. When Tony got to the taxi, Tuimalatu told him to sit in the front seat next to him, but he declined, and requested to be taken to Avaio.

On their way to Avaio, the taxi driver told police that he could see Tony in his rearview mirror pulling the t-shirt further down and leaning forward trying to hide his face, not knowing he had already been recognized.

It was around midnight when they arrived at Avaio and Tony instructed him to park next to the 2-Dollar Beach Resort and wait for him there. Tuimalatu stated that he thought Tony would return because he had left his grey backpack behind.

However, it was almost half an hour and he still had not returned. He said that a couple who apparently lived near the area, had confronted him as to why he was parked there so late at night and told to leave.

Tuimalatu said that he told them that he was waiting for his passenger who had left his backpack saying he would return. He also asked the couple if they could take pictures of the backpack, then left.

The next day, David Savaii turned up at the Fetu Ao Taxi Stand looking for Tuimalatu and he recovered his backpack. Savaii told police that the couple who took the photos of the backpack in the taxi live next door to their house in Avaio and had given him the photos and the name of the taxi driver and stand.

Tuuaifuaina Laki Va’apu’u aka Tony had previously been charged in connection with two burglaries and was found guilty of one which occurred in 2018. He was put on probation from 2018 to 2025.