A former employee of the Territorial Bank of American Samoa, Faamitai Collins has been charged with five counts of stealing in connection with the theft of more than $21,000, which he allegedly stole from an account belonging to the Paramount Builders.
Court filings state that between August 30 to September 20 this year.
Collins, 22, who was a teller at TBAS, used temporary checks to cash out from the Paramount Builders bank account and used the money without authorization from the company.
The amounts for the five checks he allegedly wrote, and used, ranged from $3,000 to $6,5000. Two of the checks were in the name of Justin Toleafoa, a cousin of the defendant, which Collins is accused of depositing in his Navy Federal account and used. The total amount of the checks listed in the court filings that Collins allegedly stole is $21,500.
The scam was discovered when Paramount Builders reported to police that money had been taken from their account that the company hadn’t authorized.
According to the court documents, the Acting CEO of TBAS, Peery Owens, confirmed to investigators that TBAS had refunded the amount taken from the Paramount Builders account and also confirmed that Collins was responsible. Further, Collins has been fired from TBAS.
When police questioned the defendant, he confessed that he stole the money from the Paramount Builders account.
Bail for Collins was set at $10,000. His case has been bound over to High Court.
