Man allegedly stole over $8K from employer to play poker

A man allegedly stole over $8,000 from his employer and reportedly admitted to taking the money and using it to play poker and to purchase methamphetamine, or ice.

Jerry Babauta Basa Jr., 31, appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio last Monday for a bail hearing on the charge of theft filed after he allegedly stole $8,582 from his employer, Marpac, to play poker and purchase ice.

Kim-Tenorio imposed a $1,000 cash bail on Basa and remanded him back to Department of Correction custody following the hearing.

The defendant was ordered to return to court on March 9 at 10am for a preliminary hearing while his arraignment was set for March 14 at 9am.

According to court documents, Basa was a sales agent for Marpac when he allegedly collected an $8,582 payment from a store in Kagman and used a large chunk of the money to play poker and buy ice instead of remitting the money.

On Feb. 4, the Marpac resident manager called the Department of Public Safety to report the theft.

The manager told police that Basa had allegedly collected a payment of over $8,000 from a store in Kagman the day before, Feb. 3. However, the following day, Basa still had not turned it in.

A fellow sales agent told police that when they went to collect the money that day, Basa insisted on receiving the money but he thought nothing of it.

In an interview with Basa, he said he received an $8,852 payment from a store in Kagman at around 4pm on Feb. 3 and, instead of remitting the money, he played poker at an arcade in Garapan.

While at the poker arcade, Basa said he met a random guy and bought ice from him. After consuming some ice, Basa said he continued to play poker until the morning of Feb. 4.

That morning, Basa said he sent a message to his boss saying that he couldn’t come to work because he was not feeling well but his manager said he knew that it was a lie.

Basa also admitted to police that it was a lie and he couldn’t come in because he didn’t have the money.

Basa said despite receiving multiple messages from his manager, co-workers, and family members to return the money, he instead smoked more ice and continued to play poker.

Later, he said he called his manager and informed him that he only had $1,604 left from the money he took and that he would return it.

Basa said he went to the office that day and returned the company car, keys, and what was left of the money.