BECQ staff, another man arrested for burglary at runner’s house

A staff of the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality and another man were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly burglarizing a house in Chalan Kiya that was occupied by his co-workers and their guest.
BECQ environmental specialist Elmer John Duenas Sablan, 43, was arrested for burglary, theft, and conspiracy, while Larry M. Sugiyama, 24, was apprehended for receiving stolen property and conspiracy. Bail was set at $100,000 cash each. Preliminary hearing will be on May 6 at 1:30pm.

The house the two allegedly burglarized is being rented by Saipan runner Steven Johnson and his girlfriend, Kaitlin Mattos. At that time, the couple had a guest triathlete from the Philippines.

Police said that Sablan and Sugiyama confessed that they were involved in the burglary and that they sold the stolen items to different people.

According to a concerned citizen who tipped off the police, Sablan and Sugiyama are regular customers of a poker arcade and that they sometimes would trade off stolen items in exchange for methamphetamine or “ice.”

Police detective Francisco O. Iginoef stated in his report that a police officer was sent to a house in Chalan Kiya on April 17, 2014, at 8:55am, in response to a report of a burglary and theft incident.

According to Johnson’s guest, she went jogging before 9am but did not lock the front door. When she returned before 9:40am, she noticed that some items, including her iPhone, were missing. The guest then used the phone of a neighbor to call the occupants of the house at work.

The guest disclosed that she had downloaded the Find Me Application on her iPhone and that it showed her iPhone’s location was in Chalan Kanoa. The phone’s registered name was also changed to Meng and Feng.

An aerial picture of Chalan Kanoa and a white dot indicating the last location of the iPhone showed that it was at a building behind Sister Remedios School.

That same day, detectives checked the location of the iPhone, which appears to be a workers’ barracks. A man they questioned denied having the iPhone.

On the same day, a concerned citizen told a detective that Sablan and Sugiyama burglarized a “jogger’s” home in Chalan Kiya last April 17.

On April 22, Sugiyama confessed to police of his role in the burglary in Chalan Kiya.

Sugiyama told police that it was Sablan’s idea to burglarize the house in Chalan Kiya because he lost his paycheck after playing poker at Lucky 7 Poker in Susupe.

Sugiyama said Sablan asked him to park the car near a two-story house in Chalan Kiya and instructed him to return after 25 to 30 minutes.

Sugiyama said he parked at Saipan Health Clinic, waited 30 minutes, then went back and picked up Sablan, who was hiding among tall grasses. Sablan was reportedly carrying a backpack and a brown guitar.

They then drove to a house in Chalan Kanoa and sold the iPad for $60. Later, they met a Caucasian man, who purchased a tablet and the CD driver for $150.

Sugiyama said on that same day, he pawned the notebook for $50 at a pawnshop. Sablan sold the Rogue acoustic guitar for $20 to a person in Susupe.

Sugiyama stated that on April 18 at 3am, he sold a necklace and wristwatch for $30 to the man who earlier bought the iPad.

Sugiyama said that on Easter Sunday, April 20, he remembered that the iPhone was still in the backpack so he sold it for $40 to a buyer in Chalan Kanoa.

On April 24, police said Sablan voluntarily went to the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation Office where he admitted the crimes.

Sablan told police that after he got out of work on April 16 he played poker near XO Market until 3am the following day. He said he finished his paycheck and went to Winchell’s in Susupe, where he met Sugiyama outside Lucky 7 Poker.

Sablan told Sugiyama that he lost his paycheck playing poker so he needs to make money because he can’t go home to his family empty-handed.

Sablan said he asked Sugiyama to drop him off at the house of his co-workers Johnson and Mattos in Chalan Kiya, where he would steal some items.

Sablan told detectives that he would sometimes drop off his co-workers so he knew that the front door of the house is usually unlocked.