Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo set a $5,000 bail for the temporary liberty of Firefighter 1 Combiniano Taisakan, 10 percent or $500 of which must be cash and the remaining $4,500 in unsecured bond.
Govendo set the preliminary hearing for Aug. 24 and the arraignment for Aug. 31.
Investigator Juan Santos stated in his affidavit that on April 28, 2009, a theft complaint was referred to the White Collar Crimes/Public Corruption Task Force.
Santos said the defendant, also known as Combin, sold a boat engine to George and his wife Sayuri Rios for $300 between June and Aug. of 2007.
George Rios also works for the DPS Fire Division.
Santos said the couple made two separate payments totaling to $140.
Court documents showed that Mrs. Rios was cleaning the engine when she uncovered a CNMI tag number in the boat engine.
She stopped cleaning the engine and reported her discovery to her husband.
Mrs. Rios said she did not want to get involved with any property she believed was stolen from the government.
She said the defendant later came by their house to pick up the boat engine but he did not return their money.
The Rios couple reported the incident to DPS Commissioner Santiago F. Tudela.
Santos said George Rios loved to fish and he asked the defendant if he knew anyone selling a boat engine.
The defendant then told him he had an engine which he wanted to sell from $400 to $600 but he sold it to Rios for $300.
Santos said the defendant said he bought the engine from Roland Johnson, owner of Micronesian Marine (Saipan) in 2007.
Santos added that the boat engine, a 15HP Johnson brand, was the property of the Northern Island Mayors Office and was still on the active property inventory list.
The engine was valued at $1,410.68.
The defendant said he got the engine back from the Rios couple because they had not completed the payment of $300.
He also told police he owned two boat engines but one was lost at sea.
Further investigation showed that Micronesian Marine did not sell any boat engine to the defendant.
