MARK Halstead and Jose Ngeskebei have been arrested for breaking into the Imperial Pacific International LLC warehouse in Chalan Piao on Aug. 31.
Halstead and Ngeskebei were separately charged with burglary and theft by the Office of the Attorney General
On Tuesday, the two appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Wesley Bogdan for a bail hearing. The judge imposed a $5,000 cash bail on Halstead and a $1,000 cash bail on Ngeskebei.
At the hearing, Assistant Public Defender Emily Thomsen represented Halstead. Because there is a conflict, the court will appoint a defense attorney for Ngeskebei. Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
After the hearing the defendants were remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections, and were ordered to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 13 at 10 a.m., and for an arraignment on Sept. 25 at 9 a.m.
Background
According to the complaint against the defendants, on Aug. 31, at around 9:24 a.m., the police received a call reporting a theft in progress at the IPI warehouse behind Blue Sky Market in Chalan Piao.
The caller told police that he was feeding his dog outside the warehouse when he noticed that the sheet metal on the warehouse door was dented outwards.
While fixing the sheet metal, he said he heard movement inside the warehouse and peeked in to see two men.
The caller said he then went into the jungle just behind the warehouse as he knew there was a path leading out from the warehouse through the jungle.
He said he noticed a red pickup truck parked nearby, and items from the warehouse on the bed of the truck.
He called for police assistance and followed the pickup to a Chalan Kanoa residence that was later identified as Halstead’s.
Halstead initially told police that he just got home, and that Ngeskebei was already there with chairs and other warehouse items.
Later, Halstead admitted that he was inside the IPI warehouse with Ngeskebei who had woken him up earlier that day “to load some stuff into his truck so Ngeskebei could sell them.”
