House of Board of Regents chair is burglarized

The two-story house of Charles V. Cepeda, chairman of the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents, was burglarized early yesterday morning by unidentified suspects who made off with up to $5,000 worth of items.

Cepeda believes that the incident happened around 5:15am, when he woke up and found glasses of water in the couch, which he believes were left behind by the burglars.

Cepeda resides in a secure family compound in Finasisu with his wife, a son, and a house helper.

He said the suspects damaged the screen at the house’s second floor window to get inside the house.

Cepeda said two laptops—an Acer Travel Mate and a Sony Vaio laptop worth over $4,000—and two bags were stolen from the house.

The suspects, he said, also tried to take off with his company vehicle, a Nissan Maxima, but failed when they had a hard time switching on the vehicle. The car’s key was inside one of the black bags that were stolen.

Cepeda reported the incident to police around 5:50am.

Saipan Tribune learned that this is the first time Cepeda was victimized by burglars at his residence.

He is convinced that more than one suspect broke into the house and that the burglars may have connived with other suspects, particularly “a kid.”

He said one of the suspects left behind a pair of 8 ½ size shoes. Two different sizes of footprints were also discovered inside the house.

The same boy, or kid, he said, most likely was the one who first entered the small opening on the second floor window.

Cepeda was just thankful that nobody at home—his wife, son, and house helper—were hurt during the incident.

“If this incident happened in a secure area like ours…as we are living in a family compound, there’s no doubt it would happen anywhere else,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Cepeda later found that the same suspect/suspects also stole some items in the neighbors’ garage for easy money. Another pair of shoes was found in the garage area of their neighbors.

“Times are hard, times are very difficult. Some people are desperate and I think they’re doing this to provide these needs and to protect themselves. We were in the house and if this incident happened in our family compound which I can say is a secure area…pretty much it is also happening elsewhere. I hope these people who are struggling could soon be out from their struggles so they can have comfortable lives. I believe if they have income, jobs, or some kind of support…they will not break into other’s residences to steal,” Cepeda said.