10 years for man who burglarized House legal counsel

Benjamin Bok Lee is escorted back to the Department of Corrections following his sentencing yesterday. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

Benjamin Bok Lee was sentenced yesterday to 10 years imprisonment for burglarizing the home of House of Representatives legal counsel Joseph Taijeron in Garapan in 2017.

Lee, 28, was sentenced yesterday by Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Naraja to serve 10 imprisonment, all suspended except for nine years with possibility for parole. Lee was also given credit for the time served in prison which was equivalent to a year.

Lee is scheduled to be released on Aug. 21, 2026.

During the sentencing, Lee through his lawyer Robert Torres, argued that Lee is a good candidate for the Hinemlu O’hala Para Enteramenti, or HOPE, Recovery Center because his crimes were committed under the influence of drugs and addiction is considered an illness that should be treated.

Office of the Attorney General’s Robert Glass in his closing argument said that Lee should serve the full imprisonment term because he had committed the burglary while he was awaiting sentencing for a previous crime. “He had his chance, now he’s done,” he said.

Glass included that the victims did not only lose their belongings, they also endured trauma from the experience. The experience was so traumatic that the victims felt unsafe in their own home.

The victims were present during the sentencing. Lee was granted the request to address them.

Lee told the victims that he was sorry for what he had done and asked that they forgive him for his past actions.

“I’m sorry for my past actions. I learned a lot [in prison]. I made bad decisions and I hope to change. I’m really not a bad person, I just got mixed up with the wrong things,” he said.

Aside from the imprisonment sentence, Lee will also serve probation after his release, pay restitution of over $1,000, and pay over $500 in court costs. All fines are to be paid in five years following his release.

Lee was arrested on Aug. 21 2017 in As Lito after a surveillance camera led to his identification.

Police said that Lee confessed to the crime and stated he sold some of the stolen items to play poker.

Lee is the same person accused of assaulting his wife and her male friend at the entrance of Coral Ocean Point in Koblerville. The charges in that case were dropped but the prosecution was allowed to re-file the case in the future.

According to police, an officer responded to a report of a burglary and theft incident at the home of Taijeron in Garapan on Aug. 2 2017 at night.

The officer learned from Taijeron’s wife that a purse she had just put on the table in the home’s dining area was gone and the front sliding door was wide open. She immediately called her husband.

The purse contained another purse, a wallet, a bank card, cellphone, car keys, safety deposit keys, house keys, office keys, two passports, and other small items. The total worth of the stolen items was $3,000.

She checked the surveillance camera of a neighbor that captured the suspect’s car and she posted the car’s photo on her Facebook account. That led to Lee’s identification.

Taijeron also remembered that a day or two prior to the burglary, Lee approached him at his house and told him he lived in that same house a while back. Lee then left.

Taijeron said he was somehow confused with Lee’s statement as the house used to be a business establishment.

In an interview with Lee at the Department of Public Safety on Aug. 4, 2017, he allegedly confessed to stealing the purse. Lee said was driving south when he passed the Taijeron couple’s house and saw, through the sliding door and the blinds, a purse on the table.

Lee said he turned around, parked the car, and went inside the house, and took the purse from the table. Lee said he then drove north, dumped some of the items from the purse into a swamp in Chalan Lau Lau, then played poker in San Jose.

Lee said he proceeded to another poker arcade in Chalan Kanoa, where he sold the purse to a woman for $40. He later went to another poker arcade in San Antonio, where he sold the stolen cellphone for $30.

In a previous robbery that Lee was involved in, a teenager was injured after he was dragged 50 feet away by Lee’s car.

In the case against Lee that was dropped, he allegedly committed the crimes of assault and battery and two counts of disturbing the peace.