Habitual offender gets 7 years in prison for 2 burglaries

A habitual offender who burglarized an establishment and a house on Saipan within less than a month was sentenced Thursday last week to seven years in prison.

Cheyenne Sablan was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for two counts of burglary, all suspended except for seven years.

The 29-year-old Sablan is required to spend the first three years and six months in prison. Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja allowed him to offer an alternative to spend the remaining three years and six months in home confinement.

Naraja will hear on June 26, 2018, whether to grant Sablan’s proposal for home confinement.

Sablan was given credit for time already served in jail. He has been in detention for almost two years now.

After serving the prison term, Sablan will be placed on 10 years of supervised probation. He was ordered to pay $1,400 and $400 plus in restitution to his first and second victims.

Sablan was required to pay a $100 fine, plus $100 in probation fee per year, and court costs. He was also ordered to perform community service.

Sablan pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2017, to two counts of burglary as part of a plea deal.

Assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas recommended a sentence of five years for each count, to run concurrently. That means Sablan shall serve five years for the two counts.

In the first case, on Aug. 9, 2016, at 1:30am, Sablan entered the house of Ko Jin Hag and Ji Hye Lee to commit theft. In that case, the victims woke up to the intruder inside their house.

In less than a month, on Aug. 29, 2016, Sablan broke into CK Internet at 10:19am, also to commit theft. In that case, the victim was inside the building, where she also resides, taking a shower when the defendant broke in.

Citing seven previous criminal cases against Sablan, Barcinas said, the defendant was already a juvenile offender back in 1998 and graduated to a career criminal.

Barcinas said Sablan is a repeat offender and has been given leniency in the past.

“His recent criminal actions show a complete disregard for the laws of the Commonwealth, a disregard for the safety and prosperity of the community, and the safety for all the victims,” she said.

Barcinas said although the government is sympathetic to Sablan’s medical condition dating back to 2011, his medical condition did not stop him from terrorizing the community with his criminal behavior.

“In fact, before his arrest, the defendant was skipping his treatment,” the prosecutor said.

Assistant public defender Nancy A. Dominski, counsel for Sablan, asked the court to consider defendant’s medical condition as a mitigating factor to release him early.

Saipan Tribune opted not to specify Sablan’s medical condition.