By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

AN ex-convict has pleaded guilty to snatching a woman’s purse last year.
Jeffrey Palacios Cabrera, 26, was convicted of robbery on Thursday by Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona.
He was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, all suspended except for the first five years with credit for 102 days already served from Sept. 13 to Dec. 24, 2006.
Cabrera was ordered to report to the Department of Corrections to serve the remaining unsuspended sentence on Feb. 24, 2007 at 8 a.m.
Cabrera was charged with robbery and theft for taking another person’s money amounting to $300 on Sept. 12, 2006.
He appeared in court for a change of plea hearing on Jan. 24 with his counsel, Assistant Public Defender Adam Hardwicke, and entered a plea of guilty to the offense of robbery.
Assistant Attorney General Rosemond B. Santos, in exchange for the plea, moved to dismiss with prejudice the other charge.
The government also agreed not to move to revoke the defendant’s probation in his previous criminal case.
The government and the defendant’s counsel agreed that the appropriate sentence for Cabrera was five years all suspended except for a little more than three years to serve.
But Manglona rejected the prior plea agreement, citing the facts of the case and the defendant’s prior criminal record.
Manglona, in sentencing Cabrera to 10 years of imprisonment, said the original proposed jail sentence did not adequately account for the severity of the offense and the defendant’s criminal history, “as well as the message that would be sent to the community to deter this kind of offense.”
She said the revised sentence better serves to deter both the defendant and others from committing the same offense.
According to the judge, Cabrera took the purse of a woman by violence. The incident occurred at night while the victim was walking along a road.
Manglona said the victim was a contract worker earning $3.05 an hour — the CNMI’s minimum wage rate — so every dollar taken from her must have been very precious.
The judge said Cabrera then went to two different poker establishments and gambled with the victim’s money.
Manglona said Cabrera committed the offense within months after being released from prison where he served a three year sentence for the crime of attempted robbery and while on probation.
The judge placed Cabrera on probation for a period of five years and ordered him to pay a special assessment fee of $100, an annual probation fee of $100 and restitution fee of $50.
He will also perform 200 hours of community work service at a minimum rate of 10 hours per month and was ordered not to have direct or indirect contact with the victim.
He will complete any recommended course of treatment including one related to gambling addiction.
A review hearing was set for Jan. 29, 2009 at 9 a.m.