Man locked up for Contempt of Court — failure to pay child support

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man was taken into custody recently for contempt of court after he failed to pay child support last year.

According to court records, the defendant was behind on payment of over $2,000 since January of 2019 until February of this year. The man was ordered to pay $150 for his children when the couple’s legal divorce was finalized by the court in 2018, however, despite there being months that the man paid the full amount as ordered by the court — other months the payments were short.

When asked why he failed to comply with order of the court, the defendant said that he was sick and was unable to get paid by his employer. He told the court that he was unable to work between December of last year and January of this year.

“What about January until November of 2019, were you also sick during that period,” Judge Elvis P. Patea asked the defendant? The defendant did not answer.

“Do you have an answer to my question or not?” Patea asked the defendant.

He responded, “Your honor, I worked during that period, however, due to my illness, sometimes I worked 2-3 days a week while other times I worked 4 days. I never worked for a full week due to my health conditions.”

Patea told the defendant that he needs to make up his mind whether he wants to comply with order of the court or not. He then ordered him held in custody for the weekend, to allow him time to make up his mind what he should do, before the court gives its regarding his case.