A Samoan man arrested this week in Honolulu for human trafficking remains in jail with bail set at $250,000, says a Honolulu Police Department (HPD) spokesperson.
Joseph Faauuga Vaimili, 27, was arrested Wednesday and the case was investigated by the Hawai’i Coalition against Human Trafficking, HPD spokesperson Michelle Wu told Samoa News yesterday afternoon.
The coalition is comprised of officers with the Honolulu Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Hawaii’s Department of Public Safety.
Since his arrest, Vaimili has been held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center with bail set at $250,000, said Wu in a telephone interview from Honolulu yesterday.
She said Vaimili, who is identified in police documents as a “Polynesian male” is facing five felony counts — two counts of kidnapping and one count each of terroristic threatening, promoting prostitution and use of firearm in the commission of a crime.
Wu said she believes the defendant is from the mainland. She said the victim, whose identity has not been made public, is from the mainland and she was taken to a shelter.
There was no immediate comment from Hawai’i state prosecutor’s office as to when the defendant will appear in court or if Vaimili has been assigned an attorney.
Honolulu-based television station KITV reported yesterday that Vaimili’s arrest was part of an investigation into human trafficking at Waikiki massage parlors.
Vaimili is being labeled as the alleged pimp and a woman was rescued when law enforcement busted the alleged prostitution ring.
KITV reported a 24-year-old woman said she was coerced into working in the sex trade and later threatened with a gun to continue.
The FBI has been on the forefront when it comes to human trafficking but this particular case is being handled at the state level.
FBI spokesman Brandon Simpson said human trafficking is a big problem in Hawaii and the U.S. territories covered by the Honolulu FBI. The U.S. territories are Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
“Usually what we see are foreign nationals who are victims of human trafficking but it does happen with U.S. citizens as well,” Simpson told KITV. Samoa News messages left with Simpson in Honolulu for comments were not immediately returned.
The biggest human trafficking case in American Samoa investigated by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies was the Daewoosa Samoa scandal in 2001, owner Kil Soo Lee was found guilty and is currently serving a lengthy jail term in a federal prison.
