Man charged with trespassing and auto theft

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On July 21, 2025, a business owner reported an alleged theft when she saw the suspect on the road driving a stolen vehicle from her shop.

The suspect was later charged with;

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

Count 2: Burglary in the Second Degree, a class C felony punishable by imprisonment not to exceed seven years, a fine of not more than $5,000., or both;

Count 3: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by imprisonment not to exceed seven years, a fine of not more than $5,000, or an amount of gain from the commission of the crime up to a maximum of $20,000, or both; and,

Count 4: Tampering in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

There was no bail set for the defendant.

Court records revealed that on July 21st, at about 12:27 a.m, a woman walked into the Tafuna Police Substation and reported an alleged break-in at her tire shop in Tafuna, with vehicle was allegedly stolen.

The woman (later identified as the victim/ reporter) claimed that she suspected an individual by the name of Paea Malani who used to work for her to be the culprit.

Authorities followed up at the victim’s tire shop where the officers were able to view the video footage of the incident. The video footage showed a man later identified as Mr. Malani walking towards the tire shop and auto shop in Tafuna with his dog. He continued into the garage, where the customers’ vehicles were parked, and walked to the back of the shop where the storage was. For about 10 minutes the suspect continued to walk back and forth several times from the storage site where the customers’ vehicles were parked.

Later, he grabbed an unknown object that was on a forklift parked at the garage. He used the object to pry open the restroom door. The owner apparently had placed the box that contained all the customers’ vehicle keys inside the restroom. Malani went into the restroom and came back out, and headed towards where the customers’ vehicles were located.

The suspect was there for about a few minutes and  walked back into the garage where he looked over two trucks parked in the garage. He went back into the restroom and came outside with a car key held in his hand. Malani scanned the main road before entering a white truck and tried to start it, but it didn’t start. He then jumped back out, went back to the restroom and came back out with a vehicle key.

Malani walked to the back of the garage and got into a black truck and later drove off in it.

After viewing the video footage from the incident, the victim was interviewed by police. According to the victim, she saw one of her customer’s black truck heading east when she was in Nu’uuli. She stated that she saw Malani operating the vehicle.

She immediately called Malani and told him to return the customer’s vehicle or she will contact the police. The victim informed the officers that the stolen vehicle was brought in the previous week for repair and that she had no knowledge about the break-in or the truck being stolen, until she saw it on the road.

She then returned to the shop and viewed the video footage and called her employees to inform them regarding the incident.

At about 3:00 p.m. on the same date, a man dropped off the stolen vehicle at the victim’s shop. One of the officers spoke with the man and he stated that he lives with the suspect. He explained that he received a call from the victim about the stolen vehicle so he waited for the suspect to come home. At around 4:00 p.m., Malani returned to their home with the stolen vehicle and that’s when he brought it back to the shop.

The officers went to the suspect’s residence to locate him but the effort was unsuccessful. Malani was still at large at the time of the incident.

The defendant is identified as a 29-year-old U.S National.