HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two men are facing federal theft charges after allegedly stealing copper cabling from federal property in 2019.
Last week, an indictment filed Sept. 27 charging Jeffrey Norita Lizama and Albert Benavente Taimanglo was unsealed in the U.S. District Court of Guam.
The indictment charged Lizama and Taimanglo with conspiracy to commit theft of government property, theft of government property and destruction of government property.
The pair is alleged to have gone to an area in Radio Barrigada and “using tools to pry open utility access points” at the U.S. Naval Communication Station on Jan. 27, 2019.
The indictment states Lizama and Taimanglo allegedly used tools to remove copper cabling and loaded it into a vehicle and drove it to a residence occupied by a co-conspirator.
“The defendants and others removed the plastic sheathing from the copper cabling, cutting the cabling into pieces, and loaded it into vehicles in preparation for sales as scrap at metal recycling centers,” the indictment states.
The damage was estimated at $44,567.90.
The indictment was unsealed after the pair were arrested and appeared in court on Thursday.
Lizama and Taimanglo pleaded not guilty to the charges and were put on pretrial release until their trial scheduled for Dec. 27, court records show.
Record
According to Post files, Lizama and Taimanglo were charged in December 2019 in connection with burglarizing a warehouse in Yigo, where they allegedly broke into several cars and stole gas, rims and tires.
Lizama also was arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of stealing copper wire in April 2017, aluminum pipes in January 2019, and copper wire from a Guam Waterworks Authority water well in Yigo on April 28.
Post files show that Taimanglo had been charged in federal court previously for unlawfully entering Andersen Air Force Base on May 2, 2019, and attempting to steal copper wire and other metals from the base.
For the charge, Taimanglo was sentenced to five months in federal prison.
Albert Benavente Taimanglo
Jeffrey Norita Lizama
