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AGO charges 3 suspects in WTF burglary
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Posted on Nov 17 2005
The Attorney General’s Office yesterday lodged criminal charges against three men who were tagged as suspects in the burglary and theft at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s Lower Base warehouse over three months ago.
The AGO filed with the Superior Court a criminal information charging five offenses each against Francisco Reyes Santos, 48; Ryan S. Duenas, 22; and Anthony P. Santos, 27.
CNMI chief prosecutor Jeffrey Moots charged the defendants with burglary and conspiracy, theft and criminal mischief.
The prosecutor charged each defendant with a count each of solicitation to commit burglary, alleging that each of them requested the other group members to participate in the alleged burglary.
Moots lodged the criminal mischief count against the defendants for damaging the wall of the warehouse, which was being used by the CNMI Water Task Force to keep locally and federally funded equipment.
Operatives recently arrested the three defendants after one of their alleged cohorts surfaced and detailed the incident to police. Warehouse staff discovered that the facility was burglarized upon reporting for work last Aug. 1.
Police investigation showed that the suspects hauled 15 cable spools, each weighing over 1,000 lbs, from the warehouse and brought it to a Chinese man at a recycling facility. Police did not indicate if the suspects sold those equipment to the unidentified Chinese man or the recycling center or if the recipients masterminded the theft.
The suspects also allegedly stole other equipment from the warehouse, including a trailer, which operatives recovered from a Japanese trader in Navy Hill. The trader, Tagushi Takashi, told police that Francisco Santos sold it to him.
Police said the stolen equipment were valued at $61,181, based on CUC’s estimates.
