Woman recovers stolen phone with Finding My Phone App

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On May 17, 2025, a woman, who was a caregiver at the LBJ Hospital called the Fagatogo Police Station (FPS) to report that her phone was stolen from the hospital room where she had been sleeping.

The suspect was later charged with Count 1: Stealing, a class C felony punishable by a term of imprisonment for not more than seven years, a fine of not more than $5,000 or pursuant to an amount equal to twice the amount of gain from the commission of the crime up to a maximum of $20,000, or both imprisonment and fine.

There was no set bail for the defendant.

Court records state that on May 17th, at around 10:25 a.m., FPS received a call from a woman (victim) regarding her iPhone 12 Pro Max that had been stolen while she was asleep in one of the hospital ward rooms.

Police officers responded to the call and upon arrival at the LBJ Hospital, they met up with the victim outside in one of the hallways. The victim directed the authorities towards the room where her fiancé was admitted.

According to the victim, she and her fiancé left their personal belongings including her iPhone on the hospital table near the bed. It was when they both slept for what she claimed was about 2- 3 minutes and when she woke up she couldn’t find her phone.

The victim continued that she tracked her phone using the Finding my Phone App and realized that the phone’s location beacon was at a different location, which was the Fagatogo US Post Office.

Police officers accompanied by the victim got into the police unit and followed the app’s displayed location which led them straight to the phone.

At this point, the phone had moved and as they made their way towards the phone’s ‘current’ location, which was Fagaalu near Gataivai, they came to a complete stop, because the phone was nowhere to be seen near the displayed location.

Furthermore, the victim stated that the phone must have been turned off by whoever stole it.

The victim and the officers went to the police station where the victim gave a voluntary statement. While there, the victim’s iPad gave off another update on the phone's current location which was in Nuuuli, near CBT and the Laufou Shopping Center.

Realizing that there’s a IFIX store near the area that repairs and resells phones, police immediately contacted the store. The store clerk told police that she had just refused service to a customer who she claimed brought in another person’s phone.

The clerk explained over the phone that this customer brought in the said phone attempting to sell it to them. However, when she saw that there was a couple’s picture on the phone’s home-screen she refused to accept it and immediately took a picture of the customer.

Police officers retrieved the store’s CCTV footage which revealed the clerk and the suspect’s interaction.

In the footage, the victim’s phone was seen being charged by the clerk and shortly after the phone’s screen lit up revealing the apple icon and later showing a picture of what appeared to be a couple.

The victim identified the phone as hers, and later showed the officers a photo that the victim claimed was the exact same photo that was seen on the phone's screen on the CCTV footage.

With the suspect’s description, the officers followed the phone’s location once again and this time it led them towards ASCC in Malaeimi, which happened to be the location of another electronic store.

The officers met up with one of the store clerks to where after being shown a photo of the suspect, they stated that the suspect had shown up to their store, stayed there for a while and then left.

The suspect was nowhere to be found.

Later, one of the off duty officers was able to identify the suspect as his classmate and where he resides. Acting on this information, they showed the suspect’s photo to an individual at the suspect’s village and he confirmed his identity and showed the officers where the suspect’s mother resides.

The suspect’s mother wasn’t home but was informed over the phone about the situation where she gave the suspect’s first and last name. She also stated that her son does not live with her anymore and that he was married and lived with his wife somewhere else.

According to the affidavit, the suspect was identified as Mata’i Tuaato and through social media (Facebook) police reported that they were able to confirm the identity of the suspect “being the same exact individual in the photo and CCTV footage.

The affidavit further notes that the suspect was still at large, during the time of the investigation, and that the iPhone 12 pro max, according to the victim was bought for a retail value of $1,500.