The jury trial of former customs officer Sheehan Sam Seigafo started Monday in the High Court.
Seigafo is charged with bribery, attempted bribery of a public servant, importation of contraband and undeclared merchandise and tampering with evidence.
The government alleges that the defendant offered another customs officer $3,000 not to search a box that was mailed through the Pago Pago Post Office. The charges against Seigafo are related to the discovery of 39.9 pounds of crystal methamphetamine which were found in a box that a former LBJ security Officer Ms Ollie Schuster picked up from the Pago Pago Post Office on July 26, 2024.
A jury of four women and two men were selected Monday for the trial which is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Sara Charpentier, Faustina Filemona and Alex Theohares. The defense attorney is Neal Connors.
Presiding in the trial are Associate Justice Elvis Patea and Associate Judges Faamausili Pomele and Paepae Faiai.
The first two prosecution witnesses were customs officer Faafoutupu Fano and Peleti Mauga Jr.
Fano was the customs officer who inspected the box in which the crystal methamphetamine were found. He said that he questioned the woman who picked up the box from the Post Office if she was the owner and the one that the box was addressed to and she said yes.
The box which was entered as an exhibit was a Home Depot box addressed to Ollie Schuster, PO Box 3655. When asked what was in the box the woman said she didn’t know.
The customs officer testified that when he opened the box, there were clothes at the top but underneath was a second box which was sealed In a black bag. He again asked the woman what was in this second box and she said she didn’t know.
Fano said he opened the second box and found “a lot” of vacuum sealed packages inside. He said he asked the woman again if she know what was inside the box and her answer was still no. He cut up one of the sealed packages and gave another to customs officer Faaoso to open.
Inside the vacuum sealed package that he cut was a white crystalline substance. Based on his training he suspected the substance to be methamphetamine.
Fano said he then notified the Customs Officer in Charge, Ms Tavae, about what was found and the box was taken to the Customs Office at the back of the Post Office for further investigation.
He said there were between 38 and 39 vacuum sealed packages in the second box and there were all weighed individually then laid side by side in a line on the metal table in the customs office. A sticky note was put on each package numbering them and with the weight of each package.
Fano said the canine unit did a sweep of the illegal substances and testing kits were used to confirm they were methamphetamine.
In cross examination, defense attorney Connors asked Fano if he knew the defendant Seigafo and the answer was yes.
Questioned if he saw Seigafo at the Post Office on July 26, the day the illegal substances were found, the witness replied no.
The defense attorney also asked Fano if he knew the color and make of Seigafo’s personal vehicle and whether he had seen the vehicle pass in front of the Post Office during his shift. Fano answered that Seigafo has a white Toyota 4-Runner and he didn’t see the vehicle during his shift. Connors also asked how the customs agent was able to identify that Ollie Schuster was indeed the woman who picked up the box from the Post Office. Fano said he asked for her ID.
Asked if he remembers where the box was sent from the customs officer said the sender information was on the note at the top of the box but he didn’t recall exactly where it was sent from.
