Good Friday poker robber gets 6 yrs in jail

Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo slapped a six-year prison term yesterday on an ex-convict who staged a daylight robbery at a poker arcade in Sadog Tasi last Good Friday.

Govendo sentenced Jesse Joseph Quitugua Saralu to 10 years in prison, all suspended except for a period of six years, for robbery.

Saralu was also ordered to spend two years in prison for violating his probation on a previous criminal conviction. This will run concurrently with the six-year sentence in the robbery case.

This means the defendant will spend a total of six years in prison for both cases.

Govendo ordered no credit for time served and placed Saralu on four years of probation after completing the sentence.

The judge required Saralu to pay $2,000 in restitution to Capitol Hill Poker game room, $500 fine plus courts costs and probation fees.

Saralu was directed to perform 500 hours of community service and was prohibited from having direct or indirect contact with any poker parlors in the CNMI during his probationary period.

Govendo prohibited the defendant from possessing or consuming alcoholic beverages during the four-year probationary period.

In addition, Saralu was also required to participate in “ice” education talks in public and private schools in the Commonwealth.

In March 2008, the government charged the defendant with robbery, theft, and assault and battery in connection with the poker arcade robbery.

Saralu signed a plea agreement with the government. He pleaded guilty to robbery and agreed to probation revocation in his previous case.

Saralu robbed Myong Hee Kim at Capitol Hill Poker game room of $2,000 cash on March 21, 2008.

Two days later, police arrested him when his car crashed off the roadway on Capital Hill during a pursuit. He was not injured.

Police said that based on video footages and the poker attendant’s statement, it was learned that Saralu was playing poker at the time and had asked the attendant to check the machine because of a malfunction.

As the attendant was checking the machine, Saralu choked her from behind, causing her to black out. When the attendant later regained consciousness, she was lying on the hallway near the restroom.

The attendant saw Saralu in the cashier’s booth so she went straight to the nearby Amiga Market where she called police. When the officers arrived, Saralu was already gone.