By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio has found probable cause to hold Michael Kazuo Ito, 31, for trial on charges of kidnapping, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault and battery, and two counts of disturbing the peace in connection with an alleged violent confrontation involving his former partner and her male companion.
The ruling followed a June 8 preliminary hearing in which the court reviewed testimony tied to three related DPS case files: 26-003770, 26-003771, and 26-003774. In her written order, Judge Kim-Tenorio concluded that the government presented sufficient evidence to establish probable cause on all seven charges.
Crash leads officers to injured woman
According to the complaint and supporting affidavit, officers first responded around 6 a.m. on May 31 to a crash near the former Kanoa Resort in Susupe. They found a woman lying on the ground beside her heavily damaged SUV. She appeared injured and disoriented and told officers she had been fleeing from the owner of a red Toyota Tacoma.
Minutes earlier, DPS had received a separate call from a man who reported being chased with a machete and who fled to the Pacific Islands Club for help. He told officers he had been sitting in the woman’s car at the PIC parking lot when Ito allegedly arrived, ripped off his shirt, and began smashing the vehicle while threatening to kill him.
The man said Ito then retrieved a machete, opened the passenger door, and attempted to stab him, cutting his hand. He also alleged Ito slapped and threw the woman to the ground when she tried to intervene.
Alleged assaults continue in San Antonio
Both individuals told police that Ito forced them to go to his father’s home in San Antonio, where he allegedly continued the assaults — choking the male victim, repeatedly striking the woman, and assaulting his own father when the elder man attempted to intervene.
According to the affidavit, Ito allegedly threw his father to the ground “like paper” before turning back to the two individuals. The woman told officers Ito shoved a ring into her mouth, struck her with her purse, and wiped blood from her face with his shirt.
She said she eventually fled in her own vehicle, panicked, and crashed while attempting to reach the police station.
Judge: Evidence supports all seven charges
After reviewing the testimony presented at the preliminary hearing, Judge Kim-Tenorio found probable cause for the following charges:
• kidnapping
• assault with a dangerous weapon (two counts)
• assault and battery (two counts)
• disturbing the peace (two counts)
Ito was arrested on the morning of May 31 and remains in custody at the Department of Corrections. His arraignment is scheduled for June 30 at 9 a.m. before Associate Judge Joey P. San Nicolas.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
