MAYUMI, whose home was burglarized on Jan. 18, told Variety that she is disappointed and frustrated with the way the Department of Public Safety is handling her case. (She asked Variety to use her first name only.)
In an interview, she said the police “came after I called for assistance, but they never performed any evidence gathering, and they have not come back for a follow-up since the incident.”
“They did not do any forensic investigation, did not collect fingerprints or take photos. It seemed like they had no intention of catching the perpetrators,” she added.
She said she woke up in the morning of Jan. 18 in her room on the second floor after hearing noises from downstairs. She thought it was her cat.
She said she started calling her cat as she walked downstairs. “I then heard running footsteps. I’m not sure how many and I did not see their faces. They went out through one of the windows downstairs. But I saw items placed in baskets ready to be carried. They…took my wallet, identification cards, debit card, house and car keys. Now I cannot go outside,” she added.
“I slipped and hurt my two arms when I checked what the perpetrators have done inside another room near the entrance to the house. They had poured oil all over the room. I slid when I stepped into it,” she said.
Asked for comment, the Department of Public Safety’s public information officer, Sgt. Fred Sato, said the case “is currently under investigation.”
Mayumi is the former owner of Toninos gift shop in Garapan that was burglarized at least six times, she said.
She added that the way DPS is handling her latest burglary case also reminded her of the harassment she experienced in 2013.
In November 2013, she said she was arrested for a disturbance at Micro Beach, Garapan.
She said she was “assaulted, manhandled and roughed up” by two police officers. They also threatened her with a gun, she added.
She said she tried to file a complaint with DPS, but “I was told to go to different offices, and even to the prosecutor’s office, but nothing has been done since then. Is DPS trying to cover it up?”
Variety tried but failed to get a comment from DPS-Internal Affairs.
