Edward Castro
EDWARD Castro, 38, appeared before Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a bail hearing Tuesday morning.
Judge Naraja imposed a $50,000 cash bail on Castro.
On Feb. 6, the Department of Public Safety issued a public advisory seeking the community’s assistance in locating and apprehending Castro, who was wanted for burglarizing a Capital Hill residence and stealing $126,000 worth of valuables.
Castro was arrested on Feb. 19.
At the bail hearing, attorney Keith Chambers was appointed by the court to represent Castro while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Castro was remanded to the custody of Corrections after the hearing and was ordered to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 26, at 10 a.m., and for an arraignment on March 11 at 9 a.m.
Castro and his co-defendants, Brandon Joel Lizama Benavente and Consalacion Villagomez Muna Sablan, were charged with misuse of financial instruments, forgery, receiving stolen property, burglary and theft.
Benavente and Sablan are also in custody and were in court for an initial appearance before Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho.
Benavente and Sablan were individually charged in a separate case for illegal possession of methamphetamine, a rifle and ammunition. In that case, Judge Camacho imposed a $100,000 cash bail on the defendants.
Background
According to the complaint against the defendants, the Department of Public Safety received a call on Jan. 19, reporting a burglary in progress at a two-story house on Capital Hill.
The victim told police over the phone that she was hiding in her bedroom’s bathroom with her 7-year-old son because she could hear two or three individuals moving around her house.
Police arrived at the scene at around 6:34 a.m. and saw that the home’s automatic car garage door had been pried open with a jack stand, two pieces of wood, a screwdriver, and a bolt cutter.
The victim told police that she kept $110,000 in her home, and it had been stolen, along with her branded bag and wallet containing $1,000.
She said her business checks, bank cards, luggage, a brand-new iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple AirPods, a Dell computer monitor, an HP computer monitor, an electronic notebook, and jewelry had also been stolen.
The victim said on the same day, she went to the Bank of Saipan to cancel her checks and inform the bank that they had been stolen. She was told, however, that a woman had come in earlier to cash a check.
The cashed check was shown to the victim, which she submitted to police. The check in the amount of $1,500 was addressed to Sablan and was dated Jan. 10.
At around 6:23 p.m. on the same day, police learned that a couple tried to use a credit card at the Rock Steady shop, and that the picture on the identification card provided with the credit card had been scratched out.
After reviewing security camera footage from the shop, police identified Sablan as the same woman who had also cashed the victim’s check.
On Jan. 20, at around 10:57 a.m., a man named Jack Sablan called the victim and said he had bought her phone and her iPad and was willing to return them for a reward.
The victim agreed to meet with the caller at Winner’s Laundry. She informed the police about it.
At Winner’s Laundry, police identified Castro, who was posing as Jack Sablan.
Castro was escorted to DPS headquarters where he was interviewed. He told police that he had tried to sell the items to the victim under the instruction of Sablan, saying he only did it because he owed Sablan money.
Investigation also revealed that the defendants managed to use the victim’s credit cards in several other stores and shops before they were arrested.
