Stealing and embezzlement charges lodged against AG’s office employee

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An employee of the Attorney General’s Office is now in custody after she was arrested and charged with stealing and embezzlement.

Loimata Savea made her initial appearance in District Court this week. She’s represented by Assistant Public Defender Bob Stuart while prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Laura Garvey.

Savea is charged with one count of stealing and one count of embezzlement, both class C felonies, punishable by term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or pursuant to A.S.C.A 46.2101, a fine equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of said crime, up to a maximum of $20,000, or both; and one count of public servant acceding to corruption, a class D felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail is set at $10,000.

Preliminary examination is scheduled on July 30th at 9a.m.

THE CASE

The charges against Savea stem from an incident that occurred on July 8th, 2020 when a woman went to the Attorney General’s (AG) Office and filed a complaint against the defendant, an employee of the AG’s Office.

The victim stated to investigators that some time in June 2020, she heard an announcement that American Samoa residents who were stuck in Apia have been given permission to return to the territory through repatriation flights. Due to the fact that the victim’s children were in Apia, she reached out to Savea for assistance in bringing her family back home.

The total number of family members who needed to return was seven and all needed OK Board to travel.

It was during their conversation where the defendant told the victim that the charge per person is $50, which added up to $350 for all seven OK Boards. Savea also told the victim that instead of coming over to the AG’s Office with the documents, to send her children’s documents via Facebook-messenger.

The victim told investigators that on June 19, 2020 she received a call from Savea stating that her OK-Boards were ready, and the payment was needed. The victim went over to the AG’s Office and met with Savea who then told her to wait as she walked over to another employee to ask for a discount.

A few minutes later, Savea returned and told the victim that the request for a discount was approved and the new total for all OK-Boards went down to $250. It was during that time the victim handed over to Savea $300. Savea then instructed the victim to walk with her downstairs to the Revenue window to get change.

Upon reaching the Revenue Window, Savea gave a one-hundred dollar bill to the cashier to break. After receiving the change from the cashier, Savea gave the victim her change of $50. The victim then gave Savea $20 in return for the work she did for her and her children.

The victim did not receive a receipt for the amount she had paid but received the OK-Boards a few days later.

Again, the victim went back to the AG’s Office to seek assistance in bringing more family members from Apia. As she was sitting in the waiting area, she overheard AG employees mention during a conversation that the OK-Boards were free of charge for the repatriation flights.

Immediately, the victim became confused and felt that something was not right, therefore, she asked the employees for aid, and in turn filed a complaint. Two special investigators from the AG’s Office were assigned to investigate this matter.

As part of the investigation, investigators seized footage from the Revenue Office, which showed Savea standing at the window, handing something over to the Clerk. It was also revealed in the footage that the Clerk left his seat, walked to the back, returned a few second later and handed something to Savea. The footage was dated June 18, 2020 at 12:44p.m, the same date mentioned by the victim in her statement of when the alleged incident occurred.

On July 12, 2020 around 12:35p.m, a letter of termination was served to Savea, citing that she had accepted a substantial payment from a member of the public to perform her regular duties, a criminal act. Due to Savea still being in her probationary period, the letter informed her she was not entitled to hearing rights.

Four days later, on July 16th around 9:59a.m, investigators from the AG’s Office with the assistance of two police sergeants met with Savea at her home in Fagaima in an effort to interview her regarding this incident. Savea was told of the situation and it was explained to her that she was not under arrest nor was she in custody.

When asked about the incident, Savea stated that on June 19th, she provided assistance to the victim in expediting OK-Board for seven of the victim’s family members who were stuck in Apia and were trying to travel under the Repatriation Flight Program.

Savea told investigators that before the OK-Board fees were waived, it was originally $50 per person. Because the victim needed seven (7) people to travel, the total amount she told the victim to pay was $300 but instead of paying the entire thing, Savea told the victim to pay only $250.

Savea admitted that the victim gave her $300. She did not have change on hand so she asked the victim to walk with her to the Revenue Office to get her change. After breaking one-hundred dollar bill, Savea said she gave $50 to the victim, and the victim tipped her with $20.

Following the transaction, the victim left the building and went home. Savea stated that she felt bad knowing what she did was wrong. On the following day, Savea stated to investigators that she had contacted the victim and told her that the money would be returned due to that the OK-Board were free of charge.

Savea further told investigators that the victim should have reached out to her before filing a complaint because she had helped her (victim) in the past with travel. She also added that she would pay the victim’s money she had taken when gets her payroll check on Monday, July 20th.