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OAG moves to drop case vs teen who lands in jail due to ‘selfies’
The Office of the Attorney General moved yesterday to dismiss the charges against Carl Steve Coronel Aldan, the teenager accused of stealing a wallet and a cellphone and was arrested after he took self-portraits or “selfies” on the phone, not knowing it had an application that allowed the owner to track and access its contents remotely.
Assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas requested the Superior Court to dismiss without prejudice the case against 18-year-old Aldan, as additional investigation is needed to be done. Dismissal without prejudice means the government may re-file the case in the future.
With the government’s motion to dismiss, the preliminary hearing that is supposed to start today, Friday, is cancelled.
Aldan was arrested in San Antonio last Friday for theft. The court imposed a $5,000 cash bail.
Police detective Daniel Maliuyaf stated in his report that two Korean male tourists went swimming last Aug. 30, leaving their belongings under one of the umbrellas at Saipan World Resort. When the two got out of the pool, they discovered that their wallets containing $246 in cash and an iPhone 5—with a total value of $1,050—were missing.
Once back in Korea, the victims emailed the Saipan World Resort management pictures of the suspect that the latter allegedly took from the stolen phone.
When interrogated by police, Aldan denied stealing the cellphone, claiming that a friend sold him the iPhone.
