Woman arrested for allegedly forging husband’s signature on refund check

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A woman who forged her husband’s signature to cash their tax refund check is now in custody after her husband filed a complaint against her. Furthermore, the wife also filed an application at the tax office with the forged signature of her husband on it, requesting the tax office to have their 3rd stimulus check direct deposited to their joint bank account.

The woman, Hermia H. Sione-Fale made her initial appearance in District Court last week.

She is charged with two counts of forgery; one count of criminal fraud and one count of offering a false instrument for filing, all class C felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail was set at $10,000, however, during her initial appearance, the court changed her bail status to “no bail” due to her illegal immigration status.

Sione-Fale is scheduled to appear in District Court this morning for her preliminary examination.

THE CASE

On Apr. 23, 2021, Police Headquarters received a call from a man stating that he wanted to file a complaint against his wife regarding their tax refund check. The man’s wife was later identified as Hermia H. Sione-Fale, the defendant in this matter. The man was told to come in to the Police station to make a written statement.

According to a written statement from the husband, on Apr. 23rd, he contacted the tax office asking about the status of his tax refund check. He was informed by an employee of the tax office that his wife (defendant) picked up their tax refund check the third week of April. The man told cops that it has been a week since his wife picked up the check and he hasn’t received any information from his wife informing him about the check.

On May 3rd, 2021investigators received a phone call from the same man stating that he received information earlier that same day from the tax office that his wife (defendant) filed an application at the tax office requesting to have their 3rd stimulus check directly deposited into their joint bank account.

On the following day, May 4th, the husband submitted another written statement to investigators stating that on May 3rd, he was informed by the tax office that his wife turned in an application requesting their stimulus check be direct deposited into a bank account, and on this application were signatures of the man and his wife.

The man prepared a formal letter requesting that the tax office stop the approval of the application and also informed the tax office that he did not sign any application. The reporter provided a copy of his formal letter to the tax office and also a copy of the application for direct deposit that was submitted at the tax office by his wife, which had both their signatures. However, according to the reporter’s statement to investigators, he did not sign the application.

On May 6th, the reporter provided a copy of the tax refund check and the signatures on the check from the bank. On the copy of the check were signatures of both the man and his wife, however, according to his statement to investigators, he did not sign the check.