Cain Fitial
CAIN Stanley Fitial, 20, has been accused of burglarizing a house and taking a 40-pound propane tank and gas stove burner on Dec. 24, 2024.
Fitial was charged with burglary and theft. He was also charged with contempt for violating the court’s previously imposed release conditions in another pending case, CR-24-0090.
Fitial, who was in the custody of the Department of Corrections, appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho for a bail hearing Monday morning.
Because there was a conflict with the Office of the Public Defender representing Fitial, Judge Camacho will appoint private attorney Joey San Nicolas to represent the defendant. Assistant Attorney General David Karch appeared for the government.
According to the complaint against Fitial, sometime in the morning of Dec. 24, a homeowner went out to his exterior kitchen and noticed that his yellow 40-pound propane tank and gas stove burner were missing.
When he reviewed his surveillance footage, he saw a male individual climbing over the fence behind his house and entering the exterior kitchen. The homeowner did not report the crime until Dec. 26, but posted about the incident on Facebook, according to police.
On Dec. 26, a woman reported to the police that Fitial went to her house on Dec. 25 and tried to sell her a propane tank and gas stove. She said she remembered the homeowner who posted about the incident on Facebook and then waited until the next day to inform him.
According to the woman, she told Fitial not to steal again. She said Fitial told her that he “doesn’t care anymore because he has four years to serve in jail for a previous theft case.”
In an interview with the police, Fitial declined to answer any questions, but he named the person who, he said, told him to sell the stolen items. Fitial told police that he did not know that the tank and stove were stolen.
However, further investigation revealed that the person he implicated was at home from Dec. 23 to 24 and nowhere near the crime scene.
Police also interviewed the owners of the vehicle that transported the stolen items.
The vehicle was identified after police reviewed surveillance footage from an establishment facing the street where the incident occurred.
The vehicle owners told police that Fitial asked them to drop him off on the night of Dec. 24. On Dec. 25, they said he asked them to store the gas stove in their apartment. Later, they asked Fitial to remove the gas stove from their apartment. Fitial then asked them to drop him off at another person’s house, where he took the gas stove and later retrieved the propane tank, which he loaded into their vehicle.
One of the vehicle’s owners said Fitial asked him to sell the items, but his girlfriend told him that the items were stolen.
He said Fitial asked him to tell the police that he, Fitial, was not the one who brought the stolen items and that it was the other person Fitial implicated who brought the stolen items.
After a bail hearing on Monday, Fitial was remanded to the custody of Corrections and was ordered to return to court on Jan. 6 at 10 a.m. for a preliminary hearing and on Jan. 13 at 9 a.m. for an arraignment.
In Sept. 2024, Fitial and other individuals were implicated in the theft of golf carts that belonged to Coral Ocean Resort. Charged with conspiracy to commit theft, and theft, he admitted to stealing the golf carts.
Police said Fitial was also involved in a separate burglary case that occurred in Aug. 2024.
