Burglar Charged in Three Incidents

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A burglar who was nabbed by a homeowner in Petesa over the weekend faces charges for three separates incidents.
Last Saturday, Uatau Falana’ was apprehended by a resident of Petesa whose home Falana’i entered in the early morning hours. 
The government’s case has it that the defendant had entered his wife’s bedroom and she screamed when she saw him standing there. 
The husband ran to the bedroom upon hearing his wife scream and saw Falanai climbing out of the bathroom window. 
The homeowner chased after him and neighbors who were awoken by the pursuit identified the suspect as Falanai, a known burgler in the neighborhood. 
The homeowner and another man were able to catch the defendant and held him until police arrived and took him to the Territorial Correctional Facility.
The government is charging Falanai in the Saturday incident as well as two other incidents last month where the defendant is accused of entering two separate homes, going into the bedroom where women were sleeping and in one home, he tried to touch the private parts of a 10 year-old girl.
The government alleges that a woman saw through her window a person trying to open the door of her house around 4 am on April 16. 

The woman told police the intruder was trying to use a kitchen knife to pry open her door. 

As the suspect made his way into the house the woman said she could see him clearly. 
She yelled at the intruder and asked what he was doing in her house. 

The woman woke up her husband and at that point the suspect ran off. 
The husband chased after the suspect but was unable to catch him.
Court filings say the couple heard a scream from their neighbor’s house and saw a person that looked like the man who entered their house, running away from their neighbor’s.
A 20 year-old woman and a ten year old girl sleeping in their home said they felt someone touching their legs as they were sleeping. 
The 10 year-old said she felt someone’s hand up on her legs moving towards her private area. 
She awoke to see a man standing next to her bed. 
According to the girl’s statement to police, the man put his hand on her shoulder and pointed a knife toward her chest and told her shh. 
The girl screamed and the man fled.
At the police station the next day, the woman whose home the incident happened in, identified Falana’i who had been brought to the police station on another matter, as the person responsible.

The defendant is being held on bail of $100,000.
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