Man gets 40 days for burglarizing warehouse

The CNMI Superior Court handed down a 40-day prison sentence on a man who burglarized a warehouse in Gualo Rai, but was caught when he offered to sell a stolen pressure washer to an employee of the same warehouse.

Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo sentenced Kevin Mendoza Piol to five years in jail, all suspended except for 40 days, for burglary.

Govendo said after serving the jail term, the 21-year-old Piol shall be placed on five years of supervised probation.

The judge required the defendant to perform 100 hours of community service, and pay a $100 fine, $25 in court assessment fee, plus a probation fee.

During the entire five-year probationary period, Piol is prohibited from possessing and consuming alcoholic beverages.

Govendo set a review hearing for June 11, 2009, to determine whether the defendant has complied with all the terms and conditions of the sentence.

The Attorney General’s Office charged Piol with burglary, theft, and criminal mischief. He entered a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to burglary.

According to the factual basis of the agreement, on or between Feb. 22 and 23, 2007, Piol burglarized JP Builders Warehouse on Saipan to steal a pressure washer.

Detective Simon T. Manacop stated in his report that on Feb. 23, 2007, it was reported to the Department of Public Safety that JP Warehouse in Gualo Rai had been burglarized.

An employee of JP Builders Warehouse told police that a mesh wire that was installed around the storage facility had been untied.

Stolen from the warehouse were 22 indoor air-condition units, one box of 25 feet 5/8 copper tube, one box of 25 feet 3/8 copper tube, a 60-lb acetylene tank, a 30-lb oxygen tank and a red pressure washer. All items had an estimated value of $6,000.

Manacop said that on March 8, 2008, an employee of JP Builders Warehouse reported to police that he had information about the burglary.

The employee told police that earlier that morning, as he was about to leave his residence in Chalan Kanoa, two young males arrived and began asking if anyone would like to buy a pressure washer/water blaster.

The employee noticed that the pressure washer was the same item that was stolen from their warehouse. The employee was familiar with the water blaster apparently because he had used it for more than eight years.

Manacop and Detective George David conducted a follow-up investigation that day on the car, leading to the identification of Piol.

Manacop said that Piol, when summoned to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, admitted he was the one who burglarized the JP Builders Warehouse and took the pressure washer.

At CIB, the employee identified Piol as the same person who tried to sell the pressure washer to him.[B][I] (Ferdie de la Torre)[/I][/B]