Four agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Hawaii are on island, the first time in a while that federal investigators have set foot in the territory.
The group is led by Matt McDonald the supervisory agent who has investigated previous cases in American Samoa.
They arrived Monday night and will leave tonight.
One of the main cases that the federal agents are reported to be working on is an alleged police brutality case stemming from the beating of a man in May of last year. It wasn’t until the end of May this year that four cops, including a captain were charged in connection with the incident.
KHJ News covered the alleged beating shortly after it happened after a listener who was at the scene contacted us when they didn’t hear or read any report in the news about the alleged beating, which took place on May 8th near the bus depot at the Fagatogo marketplace.
The victim, Sitope Faalata, was left with serious head and bodily injuries which he claims were from being assaulted by the officers. Charged were police captain Margie Alofaituli, Faau Levi. Dustin Maiava and Elleryquinn Hisatake.
Another case which the feds are reported to be looking into are claims by a female resident that she is a victim of cyber bullying.
Efforts to contact Acting Commissioner Foifua Foifua Jr. have not been successful.
Homeland Security Director Samana Semo Veavea when reached yesterday would only confirm the FBI agents are in town but said he cannot disclose any details.
We can report that Samana recently initiated investigations into some of the high profile drug cases after a grilling by lawmakers during his budget hearing on the lack of arrests and prosecution in the cases.
KHJ news understands that Samana has investigators looking into the way these cases were handled.
Whether the presence of the FBI is related to this is not clear.
