Two men arrested for alleged burglary of Dept. of Agriculture

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On February 4, 2025, an employee of the Department of Agriculture (DOA) called the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) and reported an alleged burglary at their building in Tafuna.

Two suspects, Tino Fa’aivi and Time Suimai were later arrested and charged with:

Count 1: Burglary in the Second Degree, a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both imprisonment and fine; Count 2: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both imprisonment and fine; and,

Count 3: Trespass, a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of $500, or both.

Tino Fa’aivi’s bail was set at $20,000.

Suimai Time’s bail was set at $15,000.

According to the court affidavit, on Feb. 4th, a man (later identified as the reporter) employed at the DOA contacted the TPS to report that the building had been broken into and ransacked.

Police officers proceeded to the call and upon arrival at the DOA building located in Tafuna, next to DPW, they met up with the reporter who briefed them on the matter.

The reporter stated that he came in the morning and noticed that the office appeared to have been “gone through”. He further stated that the unknown individuals had gone through the new shipment that he had gotten. The only item that was confirmed missing at the time was a G26 flashlight box that had been found open in the kitchen sink.

The officers drew a scene sketch of the immediate surrounding scene. The reporter gave the officers a receipt from the Tool Shop showing the prices of the G26 flashlights.

The reporter also stated that the individuals took three ten pound yellowfin fish from the freezer beside the main door. A trail of blood led from the main double doors to a mud track with tire marks on the outside.

Employees at DOA also added that pallets were placed over the mud where the tire marks are. The officers took photos of the scene in its entirety.

Around 7:16 p.m., the responding officer received a call from another officer stating that the properties taken were seized and the individuals involved were apprehended as well.

When asked how the stolen property was obtained, the officers stated that they were on their way to a call involving trespassing in the abandoned building next to Manaia Restaurant. They made first contact detaining Tino Jaylann Fa’avi (later identified as suspect #1) at the scene. He then walked up the stairs of the house and noticed Suimai Time (later identified as suspect #2) walking away from a trash bag full of items and a weed eater.

Time was detained and both suspects were placed inside the police unit.

The officers noticed that there were trash bags full of items and seized them. Upon opening the trash bags, there were two DOA shirts inside, confirming that these were stolen properties from the DOA. The bags were also full of other items including: 18 G26 flashlights, a saw, a purifier, HP Ink cartridge, a box of permanent markers, a stamp pad, a wrist watch, a hammer, charging port, vacuum cleaner, super glue gun, laptop charger, hose attachments, two pairs of shoes, a pair of black sunglasses, a drill battery, a skill saw battery, a skill drill, a hand saw, a heavy duty staple gun, a weed eater and a pocket fan.

The authorities contacted the DOA to reclaim the items that had been stolen. The reporter arrived later and confirmed that the recovered items belonged to the DOA inventory. The DOA signed the property form and claimed the stolen property.

Upon arrival at the station, Time was Mirandized and agreed to make a statement.

Time claimed that he had nothing to do with the break-in at the DOA building. He stated that he and his wife got into an argument early in the morning. She walked away and he went looking for her. Time further stated that he stopped by the abandoned house next to the Manaia Restaurant and he saw Fa’avi with an unknown individual loading stuff into the back of an unknown taxi. He stated that he was playing with a fan found on the property.

The officers also Mirandized Fa’avi and he agreed to make a statement.

Fa’avi verbally stated that Time was the person who instigated the DOA break-in.

He stated that Time was there to look for his wife with whom he had argued, and they took the road behind Manaia Restaurant to look for his wife. But then Time told Fa’avi to cut behind the road heading to DOA so he could take care of some business.

Fa’avi claimed that Time wanted to break into the DOA where as Time climbed through a window and told him to keep a lookout for any people passing by. Time then opened the main door so that he could enter the building and they ransacked the entire office.

He explained that they started from the front offices, searching through desks to find anything valuable. They came across pallets full of boxes and they went through a few boxes and they decided it would be too much to take.

Fa’avi added that as they were making their way outside, Time noticed a taxi parked by the building. Time went to the taxi and he knew the taxi driver.

Fa’avi stated that he could only identify that it was an Airport Taxi and it was a truck.

However, he couldn’t make out what color it was. Fa’avi stated that they loaded the items into the taxi and went to the abandoned house next to Manaia Restaurant and unloaded the items.

Fa’avi and Time were booked and confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

Tino Fa’avi is identified as a 36-year-old U.S National.

Suimai Time is identified as a 43-year-old citizen of Samoa.