$10K bail set for accused in Garapan burglary

The Superior Court imposed a $10,000 cash bail on a man accused of breaking in and burglarizing a room at the Beach Garden Estate Hotel and Apartment in Garapan last Thursday, June 13, 2024.

The bail amount and preliminary hearing dates were set for Steven Roman Mendiola Tudela, the accused, during a bail hearing yesterday at the Guma Haustisa in Susupe under Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho.

The 29-year-old Tudela is facing charges of burglary and theft and during the hearing, assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas said Tudela already had a past record of several forgery and theft cases and had only been out on probation.

After the hearing, Tudela was remanded back to the Department of Corrections’ custody and ordered to appear for his preliminary hearing on June 26, 2024 at 10am. His arraignment hearing is set for July 1, 2024. The Public Defender’s Office appointed assistant public defender Emily Thomsen as defense attorney.

According to court documents, the recent theft incident was reported on June 13, at 1:46pm. The Department of Public Safety was notified of a break-in at the Beach Garden Hotel and Apartment and upon reaching the site learned that a male individual had broken into one of the apartments, an eyewitness noting that the individual had jumped over a fence to one of the other rooms.

After endeavoring to check if the room occupants were inside, the police completed the safety check and were able to get into the apartment where they found Tudela hiding inside the apartment bathroom. The male individual was later identified as Tudela and the eyewitness also confirmed that Tudela was the man who jumped the fence.

According to the report, Tudela admitted to taking an MK brand bag from the first room and hiding it in the second. He also left behind a white and black $15.99 bag outside the first room window which contained a $5,000 LG laptop and charger, a $,2000 Apple iPad, a portable blood pressure machine, a Ziploc bag of foreign coins, and yellow and red short pants.

Tudela was then brought to DOC for detention.