Superior Court associate judge Joseph N. Camacho has denied the request of Juan R. Babauta to be released to a third-party custodian. The former House candidate is facing charges of sexual abuse of a minor.<\/p>\n
During Thursday\u2019s bail modification hearing, Camacho found Babauta\u2019s proposed third-party custodian to be unsuitable because a minor is staying in the house.<\/p>\n
Camacho said the defense counsel can re-file its request to modify bail once a suitable location is found. For now, the bail remains at $25,000 cash.<\/p>\n
Assistant attorney general Nicole D. Driscoll had opposed the bail modification, saying Babauta has disregarded Commonwealth laws and the values of the community, standing accused \u201cof vile acts\u201d with a child.<\/p>\n
Calling Babauta a predator, Driscoll said the government maintains that releasing him will have a negative impact on the victim and pose a significant threat to society. She said the defendant should not be released to a third party custodian.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is the victim\u2019s safety and well-being at risk if this defendant is released, but other children in the household and the community will also be placed at risk,\u201d she pointed out.<\/p>\n
Sex crimes, Driscoll said, are on the rise in the Commonwealth and should be deterred.<\/p>\n
Police recently arrested the 52-year-old Babauta at his house in As Matuis for alleged sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree.<\/p>\n
Assistant public defender Daniel Guidotti serves as counsel for the defendant. <\/p>\n
Police reports state that Babauta picked up a 12-year-old girl from a residence on Jan. 6, 2012, at 6pm, and brought her to a house in As Matuis where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. <\/p>\n
Saipan Tribune learned that Babauta was GOP\u2019s candidate under Precinct 4 for the House during the 2009 election. He lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Superior Court associate judge Joseph N. Camacho has denied the request of Juan R. Babauta to be released to a third-party custodian. The former House candidate is facing charges of sexual abuse of a minor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}