Samoan man pleads guilty to making false statements on U.S. passport application

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Samoan man, currently residing in Hawaii has entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, after making false statements on a U.S passport application, with sentencing scheduled for January, 2023

This is according to Honolulu federal court filings.

Vai Salamasina Taula Fetuli — aka, “Vai Doc Taula” entered the plea when he appeared Tuesday before U.S District Court Judge Jill A. Otake at the federal court in Honolulu for a hearing on initial appearance, waiver of indictment, as well as arraignment and plea of guilty to the felony complaint.

As previously reported by Samoa News, Fetuli was charged last year with a one-count indictment, which alleges that on Sept. 21, 2020 in Hawaii,  he stated in the passport application that his name was “Vai Doc Taula”, along with his birthday —  for which the year is ‘exed’ out in the indictment — and that he was born in Los Angles.

Furthermore, the defendant claims that his parents were each a “U.S. Citizen” which statement he knew was false, the indictment said, but provided no other information on where the defendant or his parents were actually born.

However, federal prosecutors filed last month a one-page felony information complaint against the defendant, who is accused of making false statements in the application for a passport in September of 2020.

During Tuesday’s hearing before Judge Otake, the defendant entered a guilty plea to the felony information complaint under the plea agreement, which only provides summary stipulation of facts in the case — such as that the defendant in September 2020 applied, in person, for a U.S. passport at the U.S. Post Office in Laie, Hawaii.

The defendant submitted an application for a U.S. Passport form, which he filled out, signed under penalty of perjury, and swore was true and correct before an employee of the U.S. Postal Service authorized to accept applications for a passport.

In the application form, according to the plea agreement, the defendant claimed, falsely, that his name was "Vai Doc Taula" and that he was born on "May 8, 1956." In fact, as the defendant knew when he completed and swore to the accuracy of the form, his real name was not "Vai Doc Taula" and he was not born on May 8, 1956.

According to prosecutors, the defendant “made, and swore to, the false statements” in the form concerning his name and date of birth knowingly and willfully, and intending to induce the issuance of a passport under the authority of the United States.

And the parties agree that the charge to which the defendant is pleading guilty adequately reflects the seriousness of the actual offense behavior and that accepting this Agreement will not undermine the statutory purposes of sentencing.

Court records show that the defendant, who remains released on an unsecured bond of $25,000, will be sentenced on Jan. 31, 2023 after Judge Otake accepted the guilty plea and ordered a pre-sentence report.

Samoa News notes that none of the court filings in the case gave an indication as to where the defendant was actually born and his birth date.

According to the plea agreement, the offense to which the defendant plead guilty to includes a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 plus a term of supervised release up to 3 years.