Police serve convict with warrant issued 4 years ago

Police served yesterday a bench warrant that was issued four years ago on a man who is currently in jail for conspiring to steal copper wires from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s well sites.

Sylvan Atalig Pua, 46, was taken to the Superior Court yesterday morning.

Assistant attorney general Melissa Simms moved to quash the bench warrant. Because it is an old case, she said she needs to look into Pua’s court files.

Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja granted Simms’ request and set a review hearing for June 30 at 1:30pm.

Pua appeared with his counsel, chief public defender Adam Hardwicke.

According to court records, then associate judge Juan T. Lizama issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Pua on Sept. 10, 2004, after the defendant failed to appear at his review hearing. Lizama set a $1,000 cash bail.

The supposed review hearing was in connection with Pua’s 2003 conviction.

Court records show that on Nov. 6, 2003, he pleaded guilty to assault and battery. He was sentenced to one year in prison, all suspended except for the first seven days with credit for two days.

The charges stemmed from an incident at Tanapag Market on Aug. 23, 2003, where he challenged De Qiang Liu to a fight. He then grabbed Liu by the wrist and tried to pull him out from behind the shop counter.

According to a police report, Pua purchased two packs of cigarettes, but Liu handed him only one pack because Pua’s money was not enough. The defendant then challenged Liu to a fight and assaulted him.

In January 2008, associate judge Kenneth Govendo imposed an 18-month prison term on Pua for the copper wire theft case. Govendo sentenced Pua to five years in prison, all suspended except for 18 months.

Following a plea agreement, Govendo gave Pua credit for the time he served in jail since Feb. 9, 2007.

The defendant was also sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison for violating probation in two other previous criminal convictions. The sentence, however, ran concurrently with the other sentence in the copper wire theft case. This meant that the total prison term slapped on Pua for the theft case and two violations of probation was 18 months.

The factual basis of the plea agreement stated that on Sept. 9, 2006, Pua and another person used a “hot stick” to shut power off from a transformer on a power pole in the vicinity of the Airport Tower at the Saipan Airport.

Pua and another person cut and rolled power lines from the power poles. They later sold the power lines and split the sum of $600.