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Woman who allegedly stole cell phone released to 3rd party
A woman who is being accused of stealing a cell phone from a friend’s house was released to her mother, who has been appointed as her third-party custodian at a preliminary hearing last Friday.
Liva Fitial, 39, was arrested last month, April 28, for allegedly stealing a cell phone from a friend’s house where she was living temporarily.
Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds had argued that the responsibilities of being a third-party custodian might be too much for Fitial’s mother as she is already the third-party custodian for her son, Joseph Seman, who was accused last month of domestic violence.
The public defender assigned to Fitial’s case argued, however, that there is no law limiting the number of people assigned to a third-party custodian as long as the people they are watching over abide by the rules set by the court. In the case of her son, he has not broken his condition of house arrest.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Camacho then granted Fitial’s release to her mother on the condition that she keeps away from the victim and the victim’s mother-in-law.
In Fitial’s case, it was learned that the mother in-law of the victim was the friend of Fitial who offered her a place to stay in Koblerville, because Fitial was allegedly having issues with her boyfriend.
The cell phone’s owner said that her phone just suddenly went missing and was told by her boyfriend’s sister that she saw Fitial take it and leave the house.
Fitial allegedly then tried to sell the phone for $40 to an electronic shop on Beach Road that buys used items. According to the phone owner, she had bought the phone for $900.
When the phone was tracked on the cell phone owner’s laptop to the electronic shop, it was discovered that the shop owner didn’t purchase the phone because it was locked and the two people, a male and a female, trying to sell it couldn’t unlock it.
The cell phone owner allegedly recognized Fitial in a video footage from the shop shown to police officers investigating the case. Later, the phone was reportedly tracked to a gaming establishment where Fitial was arrested.
