3 men sentenced in theft of Samoa-bound parcels

Three of four former air cargo ramp workers who admitted they stole hundreds of U.S. mail parcels headed for American Samoa are going to jail for two to four months.

A federal judge Monday sentenced Stanford Salavea, 20, to four months in jail; Jonathan Taboniar, 34, to four months; and Maunaloa Aitaoto, 20, to two months. Each was charged with conspiracy to commit mail theft.

The three former Pacific Air Cargo employees who worked at Honolulu Airport will begin serving their jail terms in January at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.

The fourth defendant, Louis Felesi, will be sentenced next week.

In addition to the jail terms, U.S. District Judge David Ezra ordered Salavea and Aitaoto to each perform 150 hours of community service per year for the two years they will be under court supervision following the completion of their jail terms. They must perform the community service in the Samoan community here "because that’s where the harm occurred," Ezra said.

Taboniar will have to perform 100 hours of community service in each of his two years of supervised release.

All three are also responsible for paying a total of $10,489 in restitution.

The U.S. Postal Service paid out $5,845 in claims to customers who said they did not receive their mail between last November and Feb. 24, when the four defendants were arrested in a sting operation for stealing mail parcels.

The rest of the restitution is for a retailer in Pago Pago, which said it did not receive a $3,490 shipment of Nike athletic shoes and other merchandise, and to a man who said he never received a $1,153 laptop computer he had ordered.

Ezra called the thefts "a disgrace" because the mail parcels are often essential goods sent to impoverished relatives by loved ones who themselves are not much better off.

He also said it’s ironic that Taboniar was involved in the thefts because he regularly sends money to family members in the Philippines.