The main defendant in the nearly $1 million food stamp scam at the Department of Human and Social Services, Vincent Toeava, entered a plea agreement last Friday.
However no details were made public as the plea hearing was held in a closed session with Chief Justice Michael Kruse presiding.
Efforts to obtain information from Assistant Attorney General Laura Garvey and defense attorney David Vargas were unsuccessful.
KHJ News was told that the plea agreement was accepted by the court.
The plea agreement for the co-defendant in the DHSS scam, Liren Zhang, also known as Kevin. was also presented in a closed session.
Toeava who has been held on bail of $450,000 since he was arrested in January of last year faces 20 Class C felony charges in connection with the food stamp scam in which counterfeit coupons for the American Samoa Nutrition Assistance Program were produced and redeemed at stores owned by defendant Kevin.
According to court affidavits, ANZ Bank redeemed coupons worth $667,555 more for the first quarter of FY2018 than the amount of food coupons that ASNAP actually issued.
