A man accused of bribing a customs agent and importing drugs is being held on bail of $50,000 at the Territorial Correctional Facility.

Kenneth Mauga-Lei is charged with bribery of a public servant, concealing an offense, attempted possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, attempted possession of a controlled substance and importation of contraband.

The government alleges that in May of last year Mauga-Lei contacted a customs agent and offered to pay him $3,000 in return for the agent to arrange for a Post Office box to send a package to. Then Chief of Customs Elisara Elisara was informed by the agent and his supervisor and it was decided that they would go along with the defendant’s plan to monitor any illegal activity.

American Samoa Customs liaised with the United States Postal Service in Hawaii and a mail box was made available at the local Post Office for Mauga-Lei to use.

According to court filings the customs agent that the defendant reached out to believed the reason why Mauga-Lei made his request to him is because the Customs Division had recently reshuffled their agents at the Post Office and the defendant’s contact was no longer there.

The customs agent said the defendant asked that the agent monitor the package after it was sent to the provided mail box making sure it arrived undetected by customs so it could be picked up by another person.

In July of 2024, Mauga-Lei messaged the customs agent that the box should have arrived at the local Post Office.

The defendant also sent to the customs agent a photo of the box that was mailed to arranged mailbox. The photo showed a Home Depot box with sender and recipient address information handwritten on the outside. The sender was a Marcus Taito and the name of the recipient was Tanu Solipo. The sender address was Lakewood, Washington.

The description of the box, with sender and recipient information as well as the tracking number was provided to the US Postal Service inspector who was working with local customs on the case.

On July 1st 2024, the postal inspector located the subject box at the USPS Honolulu Processing and Distribution Center and removed it for further inspection. That same day, the box was presented to the Honolulu Police Department narcotic canine PITT. The canine’s handler said the canine Pitt showed a change in behavior and alerted him to the presence of a controlled substance.

Inside the box were assorted candies and chocolates, two T-shirts and two white shorts. Under the candy and clothing there were five vacuum sealed bags containing a white crystalline substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. The USPS inspector conducted a review of the sender and recipient information in a law enforcement data base and learned that a Marcus Taito, was not associated with the sender address nor was a Tanu Solipo associated with the recipient address.

The value of the methamphetamine found in the box was between $274,2000 and $457,000. When interviewed in December of last year, Mauga-Lei denied any involvement and stated he barely knew the customs agent but that the agent was a co-worker of his older bother.

Mauga-Lei’s bail was originally set at $100,000 but has been reduced to $50,000.