Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A woman accused of forging her husband’s signature to cash their stimulus check is now in custody after she was arrested by police last month and charged.

Maanaima Polesi made her initial appearance in District Court last month.

She is charged with a single count of forgery, a class C felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000.

THE ALLEGATION

On May 24th, 2021, a man at the Leone Police Substation (LPS) filed a complaint against his wife, Maanaima Polesi. The man was interviewed by police officers where he gave his verbal and written statement regarding the matter.

The man stated that he and his wife are still legally married, but are no longer living together. He stated that his wife won’t give him back his Social Security (SSN) and Immigration cards and requested officers’ assistance to ask his wife to return the items because he really need them.

The man also stated that on May 12, 2021 he went to the Tax Office to check if their joint tax refund was available. He then remembered their stimulus check. He requested the Tax Office to check when their stimulus will be released, and was told that it is already mailed.

On May 19th, the man saw his wife at a store in Nuuuli where he asked his wife about their stimulus check and she told him that she still hadn’t checked her mailbox.

On Mat 24th, the man went to the Post Office to check the mailbox that the lady at the Tax Office had told him to which the check was mailed, and was told that there was nothing in that mailbox, that any mail had been picked up. He further stated that he never once signed a check for his wife to cash.

The man and his estranged and his wife had agreed to each received half of their stimulus check since they were not together anymore. On May 24th, investigators went to the TBAS (Territorial Bank of American Samoa) in Tafuna and learned from the bank that Mrs. Molesi opened a new account in only her name to deposit and cash the check.

On the same day, investigators contacted Mrs. Polesi’s by cellphone to request that she come into the LPS with Mr. Polesi’s SSN and immigration cards and to discuss the said matter.

When Mrs. Polesi arrived, investigators asked her why is she holding Mr. Polesi’s cards and  she replied that she held onto them so she could use it to cash the check; she then handed Mr. Polesi’s SSN and his immigration ID cards over to the investigator.

Mrs. Polesi was Mirandized, where she said she understood of her rights, however, the waiver part of the form was also read and explained to her and she refused to waive her rights and make a statement.

On May 26th, the defendant’s husband came to the LPS again and verbally stated that on the same date, he walked into the Tax Office to check on their tax return and the worker told him that their tax return check was released on Feb. 22nd.

He then came home and contacted his wife through cellphone to ask about it and she stated that they don’t have a tax refund.

On June 14th, a letter of request was sent to the TBAS for a copy of the stimulus check with Mr. and Mrs. Polesi’s name on it. On the same date, investigators received a copy of the check through email, and it showed that it has both of their names on it and the signatures on the back.