POLICE have arrested a man and three women for burglarizing a house and stealing personal belongings in Dandan on Monday noon.
Joshua Santos, 20; Jocelyn M. Camacho, 33; Leuevalyne Mafnas, 21; and Carlene Muna, 25, all residents of Koblerville, appeared in court yesterday.
Assistant Attorney General Edward Buckingham represented the government, while Santos was represented by Assistant Public Defender Douglas Hartig.
The clerk of court will appoint counsel to represent the three other defendants.
Associate Judge Perry B. Inos imposed a $6,000 bail each on Santos and Mafnas, 10 percent or $600 of which must be in cash and the remaining amount in unsecured or appearance bond.
Inos ordered Camacho and Muna to post $1,000 each, 50 percent or $500 of which must be in cash and the remaining half in unsecured bond.
Inos set the preliminary hearing for Jan. 23 at 9 a.m. and the arraignment for Feb. 2.
The defendants were remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections after the hearing but the court scheduled a bail modification hearing yesterday afternoon.
Once they post bail, the four defendants must return to court whenever required to do so, obey all commonwealth laws, not leave Saipan without court permission, stay away from all seaports and airports, keep all appointments with their attorneys and have no contact with the victim.
Detective Abraham C. Villagomez filed an affidavit stating that the Department of Public Safety received a report of burglary and theft in Dandan along Alof Avenue at 12:23 p.m. on Jan. 12.
Preliminary investigation conducted by responding Police Officer Vince Pangelinan showed that the victim was approaching her house after walking with her daughter when she saw a man, later identified as Santos, carrying her luggage out of her garage.
The victim shouted at the man, who started to run away. The victim chased Santos and asked for help from the neighbors.
The affidavit stated that the victim chased Santos between the houses and across the street into the bushes.
Santos tried to flag down a passing vehicle but the driver did not let him board his car.
Instead, the driver of the car informed the victim of Santos’s identity.
The victim went back to her house and saw a woman, later identified as Mafnas, sitting inside a gold Toyota Camry.
Mafnas denied that she was with Santos.
She told the victim she had to park because her car had overheated.
The victim found her house in total disarray and some of her personal belongings were missing.
She went outside her house and saw two women, later identified as Camacho and Muna, hiding behind the trees at the back of her house.
The victim then went back to the parked Camry and took the car keys when she noticed that Mafnas was already gone.
She then called the police for assistance.
The two women told police that the one responsible for the burglary was another person but they admitted later that they lied to hide the identity of Santos.
At about 1:30 p.m. on the same day, police officers spotted Santos and another female, later identified as Mafnas, walking on the roadway close to Hawaiian Rock. The victim identified Santos and Mafnas when the two were brought to her.
Investigators searched Mafnas’s house in Koblerville and they recovered a basket of clothes belonging to the victim. Some of the lost items of the victim were found inside the Camry.
