By Bryan Manabat
bryan@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
KEENE Deleon Guerrero and Nieves Lizama are accused of burglarizing the Northern Islands Mayor’s Office last week and taking Starlink packages, a satellite phone, a rifle, and other items valued at $2,761.
Deleon Guerrero, 30, and Lizama, 31, appeared before Superior Court Judge Joseph N. Camacho for a bail hearing Friday morning and were charged with burglary and theft.
Judge Camacho imposed $15,000 cash bail on each defendant, remanded them to the Department of Corrections, and ordered them to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 29 at 10 a.m. and arraignment on Jan. 5 at 9 a.m.
Assistant Public Defender Emily Thomsen was appointed to represent Deleon Guerrero. A defense attorney will be appointed for Lizama. Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Burglary and theft are each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
According to the complaint, a staffer arrived at the mayor’s office on Dec. 16 and noticed drawers and items out of place. The staffer later learned that several office items and tools were missing.
The missing items included two olive-green 30-quart Igloo coolers, two Starlink packages valued at $899 each, a satellite phone in a black Pelican case, a tip jar containing $105, a Micro Groove .22 rifle, a manual planer, a Makita planer, a Milwaukee jigsaw, and a Makita brushless router, totaling $2,761.
Surveillance footage showed a light-colored sedan parked at the back of the building on Capital Hill. A male individual, identified as Deleon Guerrero, was seen entering through a window before opening a door. The footage also showed him carrying items out of the building, including a black gun case.
Later that day, the vehicle seen in the footage was pulled over in Gualo Rai. The driver, identified as Shawn Reyes, fled into nearby vegetation. No further information on Reyes was available as of Monday press time.
The passenger, identified as Lizama, told detectives that Deleon Guerrero asked her to drop him off at the mayor’s office and pick him up later.
Lizama said she and Deleon Guerrero later met with two individuals to sell the tools and rifle taken from the office.
According to court documents, Lizama has a pending criminal case in which she is charged with seven counts of forgery and seven counts of theft. In that case, she is accused of using forged business checks to purchase items from retail and service establishments.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
