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$25K bail imposed on man who allegedly burglarized Hopwood
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Posted on Mar 09 2023
Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio has imposed a $25,000 cash bail on a man accused of burglarizing the Admiral Herbert G. Hopwood Middle School last month.
After nearly a month since the string of burglaries occurred at Hopwood, Department of Public Safety has finally found its suspect, Tipingeni Mcpeterson, who has been charged with burglary and theft.
Mcpeterson remains in Department of Corrections custody after failing to post bail.
According to a DPS report, at around 10:13am last Feb. 24, DPS dispatch received a call reporting a burglary and theft incident at Hopwood in Chalan Piao.
Officers were dispatched to the scene met with the school principal and were informed that the campus had been burglarized twice in just a week.
According to the principal, the first incident occurred on Feb. 17, at around 11:22pm. The suspect was caught on surveillance cameras breaking into the campus storage room.
The second incident, the school principal said, occurred on Feb. 19, at around 9:32am. The suspect was again seen on camera running away from school grounds, holding what was later identified as a stolen item.
Through the course of their investigation, detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division, were shown the campus surveillance footage from the two separate dates.
Police confirmed that the male individual, later identified as Mcpeterson, was seen forcing entry into a campus storage room, and stealing items inside.
The individual was seen on camera wearing a blue hooded shirt with a diamond pattern print on the front.
In a separate photo, the individual was seen wearing a pair of dark short pants, a blue striped tank top, and a red-colored T-shirt over his head.
The photos were provided to the CNMI CrimeStoppers to seek public assistance in identifying the man in the photos. On Feb. 24, investigators received several tips through CrimeStoppers identifying the suspect from the surveillance footage to be Mcpeterson.
On March 2, at around 7:34pm, a warrant was issued for Mcpeterson’s arrest. Later that same evening, detectives arrested Mcpeterson in Chalan Piao.
