By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

A NAVY Exchange worker yesterday entered a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and admitted stealing property from the Navy store.
Aaron Tainatongo, 25, of Inarajan, through his lawyer William Gavras, agreed to enter a guilty plea to information charging him with theft of government property.
According to the information filed by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Anderson, Tainatongo took property from the Navy store with a value of approximately $579 in June 2006.
Tainatongo also agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $579.98 to the Navy Exchange and reserved the right to appeal the sentence imposed in his case.
The maximum sentence for theft of property in an amount less than $1,000 is imprisonment for not more than one year and a maximum fine of $100,000 together with any restitution as the court may order. Any sentence of incarceration may include a term of supervised release of not more than one year.
Tainatongo was charged in December last year. Prior to his arrest, three other Navy Exchange workers— Beverly Torres, Kenneth Tedtaotao and Leslie Santos—were charged with the same criminal offense.
In November, Torres, 24, entered a guilty plea and admitted that she embezzled some $8,582.71.
Torres committed the crime on or about April 8, 2006 to July 6, 2006 while she worked as cashier at the Navy store.
Tedtaotao, 22, and Santos, 35, were separately charged with theft of government property when they stole U.S. currency and property from the Navy Exchange.
As part of the plea agreement, Torres agreed to pay restitution amounting to $8,582.71.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan ordered Torres’s release but scheduled another court hearing on Feb. 26, 2007.
Tedtaotao, for his part, allegedly took some property from the Navy Exchange from May 2006 to June 2006 with a value of less than $1,000.
From September 2005 to around January 2006, Santos allegedly took from the Navy Exchange less than $1,000.