A former cargo supervisor for Polynesian Airlines who managed to skip the territory even though a stop order was issued to stop him from leaving, has been charged in District Court.
Johnny Ah Mu faces four counts of embezzlement, four counts of stealing and a count of flight to avoid prosecution.
He’s accused of embezzling and stealing $12,074 of Polynesian Airlines money that customers paid to ship cargo on flights between American Samoa and Samoa.
An affidavit by investigator Faauua Elisara of the Attorney General’s Office states that a Polynesian Airlines auditor determined that from May to early June, 2014, $12,074 had been received by Polynesian Airlines employees for cargo shipments but that money had not been turned over to the corporation.
The defendant was the cargo agent in charge of collecting these payments and giving them to the cashier.
An investigation by the airline found that nine, 50-page air freight consignment notes used to record payments for cargo shipments had been issued but not turned in.
In addition, receipts were missing from the airline records.
According to court documents, at a meeting with the Polynesian Airlines Local Manager Toe Loia on June 11, 2014 the defendant provided the missing air freight consignment notes that were missing and these matched up with the missing amount of money.
The defendant stated that he had taken the money home with him and would pay it back when he got his tax refund.
Loia told him permission to repay the money could only come from the Polynesian CEO.
Loia then filed a complaint with police.
A stop order was subsequently issued to stop the defendant from leaving the territory.
When an investigator interviewed him, he claimed that he had taken a sales bag containing $4,000 – $5,000 home with him on a busy Flag Day weekend and misplaced it.
He said this was all he was responsible for that he had not taken the whole amount of $12,410 as the airline claimed.
He also told the investigator that relatives of the station manager owed money for cargo that they shipped, which Loia said he would pay for later but didn’t.
This claim however was disputed by the station manager and the airline auditor who explained to the investigator the airline’s strict procedures for handling cash.
Despite the stop order issued for Ah Mu, he was able to leave the territory on a Hawaiian Airlines flight on December 1, 2014.
A Transportation Security Administration employee who he has a child with, Cindy Mailo, is believed to have helped him escape the notice of authorities.
She was charged for her role last year.
Ah Mu is in Honolulu and is to voluntarily return to the territory soon.
