Teacher accused of rape held without bail until extradition

A 26-year-old American Samoa elementary school teacher accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in Pago Pago is being held on Oahu without bail until he can be extradited.

Circuit Judge Steven Alm ordered the suspect’s extradition Friday and said the state has until Nov. 3 to return Tone Pulou to American Samoa to face charges of rape, first-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Pulou, who has been in Hawaii since Sept. 30, was arrested Wednesday night by FBI agents at the Aliamanu McDonald’s restaurant at 4725 Bougainville Drive.

Deputy Public Defender Ronette Kawakami asked that Pulou’s bail be set at $50,000, citing that he has family in Waianae.

However, Alm agreed with the request by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Janice Futa and the attorney general of American Samoa that Pulou be held without bail until he is returned to American Samoa.

According to the arrest affidavit, Pulou allegedly had a relationship with the girl from September 2009 through February 2010 while working at Alofau Elementary School in Pago Pago. The girl became pregnant.

Medical staff notified social workers after her mother brought the girl, when she was 14, to a hospital to see an obstetrician.

In a brief interview from jail, Pulou told the Associated Press that the relationship was consensual and that he wants to go home to face the charges.

He had been wanted since last August, when authorities say he fled to Australia. FBI spokesman Tom Simon said he arrived on Oahu on Sept. 30 and had been staying with friends in Waianae.

Simon said Pulou was traveling under his own name and that authorities were alerted to his presence.