A man who pled guilty to stealing and third-degree property damage has been sentenced to seven years at the Territorial Correctional Facility, without release except for genuine medical reasons.

Lipena Patolo Aita has the option of serving his jail term here or depart the territory after he makes travel arrangements, and the court approves a motion for his departure in lieu of incarceration.

If he decides to serve his prison term here, he will still have to depart the territory after his release and not return for the rest of his life. He is also fined $5,000, which the court said his immigration sponsor must pay.

The defendant has been in custody for 267 day and will be credited for that time, which satisfies his sentence for property damage of six months in jail.

Aita was previously convicted of possession of a controlled substance and was placed on probation for five years.

Associate Justice Fiti Sunia said it was unclear whether the defendant committed the offence of stealing to subsidize his drug habit. He said burglary seems to run alongside methamphetamine use and vice versa, and the court is alarmed with the increasing number of such cases.

Assistant Public Defender Stanlislaw Krawieski had asked that his client be placed on probation, saying that he turned himself in when he heard that police were looking for him and that he gave what was stolen to someone else who was behind the incident.

Prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Faustina Filemona supported the recommendation for a probated sentence.