DPS apprehends coin thieves

The Department of Public Safety arrested two individuals involved in the recent coin machine theft and burglary at Fresh Laundry in San Vicente last Friday at their residences.

George Grover, 33, and Dino Mettao, 32, the two individuals allegedly responsible for the heist at the laundromat and are facing charges of theft and burglary with a $10,000 bail for each man.

The two appeared before Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho at the Superior Court in Susupe yesterday and were remanded back to the Department of Corrections after their hearing. They are set to reappear before the court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 2, 2024 at 10am, and on Oct. 7, 2024 at 9am for arraignment.

Public defense attorney Charlene Brown was assigned to represent Mettao, and due to a stay away order, the co-defendants will have separate attorneys from the Office of Public Defender. An attorney was promised to represent Grover as well, but as of the hearing, it has not been confirmed yet which attorney would represent him. Assistant attorneys general David Karch and Daniel Johnson will represent the CNMI government.

According to court documents, on Aug, 28, 2024, at around 8:21am, DPS officers were dispatched to a reported theft incident at Fresh Laundry located in San Vicente. When officers arrived, they met with the owner and victim who reported that a coin machine for his laundry was stolen. According to the victim, that morning around 7am, he discovered that his coin machine was missing. Upon reviewing surveillance footage, he discovered that someone stole it. The surveillance footage showed that on Aug. 28, 2024, at around 3:21am, a red-colored sedan parked at the entrance of Fresh Laundry. An individual wearing full clothing covering his face entered the laundry and walked toward the back, took the coin machine, placed it into the sedan and left. The owner estimated the coin machine to have from $1,500 to $2,000 because he last checked it on Aug. 25, 2024 and saw it was almost full. According to the owner the coin machine can hold up to about $3,000 when full.

Police officers were then able to review the surveillance footage, observing that one of the individuals was seen taking a coin machine from inside the laundry and placed it inside the red-color sedan, just before the two left aboard the sedan. The day after on Aug. 29, officers received information that the person on the surveillance footage who wore a face mask, and carried out the coin machine from Fresh Laundry is Mettao, and that the other individual on the surveillance footage also wearing a face mask is Grover and that the getaway vehicle was Grover’s but with a different license plate number on it.

Officers also learned that the person who disposed the coin machine was Carl Camacho. On the same day at 1:10pm, the coin machine was found at Susupe Beach Park. Upon meeting with Camacho at the Susupe Beach Park, he confessed, telling officers that it was him who disposed the coin machine and it was Grover who called and asked him to dispose it. Camacho added that Grover told him that it was he and Mettao who stole the coin machine at Fresh Laundry and confirmed that the red sedan was Grover’s car.

On Sept. 9, 2024, at around 4:07pm, the victim arrived at the DPS office in Susupe and was able to positively identify the coin machine as his, but pointed out that a bill acceptor and coin box were missing.

On Sept. 19, 2024, DPS officers along with the Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives executed a search warrant at a residence in Chalan Kanoa. During the search, in an attempt to ask the neighbor if they have seen the person they were searching for, an officer walked across to a residence which so happens to be Grover’s. When Grover opened his door, the officer saw an E-bike in plain sight, which she recognized as one in a theft case she was currently investigating. She asked Grover if she could take a look at the E-bike to which Grover agreed. The officer approached the E-bike and confirmed it to be the stolen E-bike from the case she is investigating.

At the same time, the officer also noticed a metal coin box, along with a bill acceptor, that looked like it was from a coin machine, and questioned Grover about it. Upon questioning, Grover admitted to the theft and burglary at the Fresh Laundry and confirmed that the coin box was from the laundry. Grover then identified the second individual with him at Fresh Laundry as Mettao. The metal coin box and bill acceptor were then procured from the residence, and on Thursday, Sept, 20, 2024, the victim arrived at the CIB Office in Garapan, and positively identified the coin box and bill acceptor as part of his coin machine. An arrest warrant was issued immediately and carried through by DPS the same day.