TCF escapee who allegedly attempted to burglarize TBAS still not charged

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Department of Public Safety remains mum over queries regarding the prisoner that escaped from jail and attempted to break into the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) in November last year.

Three months later this case remains pending with the Criminal Investigation Division and has yet to be submitted to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution.

Samoa News reached out to Acting Police Commissioner Vaipuna Foifua Jr for comments on this issue, however efforts were unsuccessful. The courtesy was further extended to Deputy Police Commissioner Terry Letuli but calls and messages left were not returned as of press time.

In November 2022 a prisoner, Joeita Fa’aaliga allegedly broke out of the Tafuna Correctional Facility and attempted to break into the TBAS bank branch in Tafuna, but failed.

However he vandalized the ATM machine, which was found to be beyond repair and has to be replaced.

A statement issued by the TBAS following the attempted burglary was that “nothing was taken as Public Safety arrived while the robbery was in progress and arrests were made.”

(To date, Samoa News cannot confirm if there was more than one arrest — which included the prisoner — or the statement by DPS mistakenly indicated more than one arrest.)

However, it was acknowledged that the prisoner was taken back into the custody of the police at that time.

As reported earlier, Chief of Police Poua'amea Tuaolo Supapo said in December they have not received all the evidence from the bank, hence the delay in prosecuting this matter.

 “All I can say is that the investigation is continuing and once that is completed the file will then be sent to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution,” the Chief said.

According to the CoP, the prisoner in question is in the custody of police.

As reported by Samoa News in July, the American Samoa Corrections Agency (ASCA) management remains tightlipped over the lack of a public notice when a prisoner escapes from the TCF.

A photo of the prisoner — Faaliga, circulated on Facebook, and it was alleged he had broken into family homes in Tafuna. 

Even when the prisoner was captured there was no public notice issued regarding this matter.

BACKGROUND

In July when Fa’aaliga escaped from the TCF, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Lefiti Falelaulii Pese apologized on behalf of the police and the American Samoa Corrections Agency for the “lapse” in informing the public that a prisoner had escaped.

“The concerns raised by the public are valid and therefore I apologize for the lack of a public notice by the Police, so the public can be aware there is a prisoner on the loose.”

In a phone conversation at the time, Lefiti told Samoa News about the then-recent separation of the American Samoa Corrections Agency from the DPS saying,

“As you know with anything relatively new, there are teething problems but we will do better, after all the public has the right to know so they can be alert,” said the Police Commissioner.

He added that while the ASCA is separate from the police, their duties are interconnected.

“When a prisoner escapes, the TCF should report it to the police — and breaking out of the prison is a violation of the law.

“However in this case, the police were only informed of the prisoner escaping a day after he escaped,” said the Commissioner.