JOSEPH Lee and Gyles Ruluked were arrested on April 30, 2024 and on May 1 2024, respectively, for stealing two vacuum cleaners and a humidifier from the Marianas Eye Institute in Garapan.
Lee, 26 and Ruluked, 39, appeared pro se or on their own behalf in the custody of the Department of Corrections at a bail hearing on Thursday. Assistant Attorney General Heather Barcinas represented the government.
During the hearing, Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho appointed Gilbert Birnbrich as Lee’s counsel because the court found out that there was a conflict with the Office of the Public Defender.
The judge imposed a $25,000 bail each on Lee and Ruluked, and set a preliminary hearing for May 15, 2024 at 10 a.m. The defendants were remanded to Corrections’ custody after the hearing.
Department of Public Safety-Criminal Investigation Division’s Lt. Catherine B. Pangelinan, in her affidavit, informed the court that Marianas Eye reported the burglary and theft incident on April 28, 2024. Officer Felix Hocog responded to the scene and saw that the clinic’s container was broken into. Two vacuum cleaners and a humidifier were reported stolen.
The next day, Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio issued an arrest warrant against Lee and Dane Lisua for burglary and theft.
On May 2, 2024, DPS Canine Officers Jesse Deleon Guerrero and Giovanni Taitingfong spotted Lee standing next to a Kia Seltos on a northbound lane of a road behind Saipan Computer in Garapan, and served him the arrest warrant.
The officers showed Lee the security camera footage depicting him and another individual breaking into Marianas Eye’s container.
According to Pangelinan’s report, Lee identified Ruluked — not Dane Lisua — as the other person in the footage. Lee also told the police that Glarisha Mabel dropped him and Ruluked on the unpaved road near Marianas Eye on the day the burglary and theft occurred.
In a follow-up operation on May 6, 2024, Detectives Daniel Kaipat and Vincent Rangamar met with Mabel near the old Japanese jail in Garapan. Mabel told the detectives that on the day of the incident, Lee told her that they had “a mission” and left. Lee returned 30 minutes later with Ruluked, Mabel said.
They then proceeded to Gualo Rai with Mabel driving the vehicle. Mabel said she was told to drive down the unpaved road near the District Court for the NMI and head to Beach Road.
When they reached the Marianas Eye compound, Lee told her to drop him and Ruluked, and wait for them. When they came back, Mabel said Lee put vacuum cleaners in the trunk of the car and a humidifier in the backseat.
On May 8, 2024, Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio issued an arrest warrant against Ruluked who was arrested in Kagman II on that day.
