{"id":214505,"date":"2015-11-13T06:06:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T20:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=214505"},"modified":"2015-11-13T06:06:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T20:06:50","slug":"ex-convict-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-store-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/ex-convict-gets-three-years-in-prison-for-store-robbery\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-convict gets three years in prison for store robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alvaro<\/a>
Alvaro Joseph Cabrera<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAn ex-convict who was charged with robbing the Blue Sky Supermarket in Chalan Piao in February was slapped with a sentence of three years in prison. Alvaro Joseph Cabrera pleaded guilty to theft and violating the terms of his probation.<\/p>\n

In a commitment order yesterday, Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman noted that Cabrera is no stranger to the criminal justice system, having a previous theft conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs stated by the government, although there were no physical injuries, the victim has continuously suffered trauma from defendant\u2019s unlawful acts and the potential for harm was real,\u201d Wiseman said.<\/p>\n

In the theft case, Cabrera was sentenced to five years in prison, all suspended except for two years. For violating his probation in a previous criminal conviction, the 24-year-old Cabrera, also known as A.J., was sentenced to one-year imprisonment. Both sentences will run consecutively, which means the total prison term for both cases is three years imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Cabrera was given credit for eight months and 13 days of time served. He is expected to be released on Feb. 21, 2018.<\/p>\n

After completing the sentence, Cabrera will be placed on probation for five years. He was ordered to pay $850 in restitution to Blue Sky Supermarket, $100 in court assessment fee, plus probation fee.<\/p>\n

Acting chief prosecutor Chester Hinds had recommended the maximum sentence of five years imprisonment without parole for theft, plus the one-year suspended sentence for violating his probation.<\/p>\n

Hinds said that Cabrera\u2019s actions are becoming so increasingly violent that even his family does not want contact with him. His past criminal actions show that he poses a threat to the community, Hinds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the defendant, he is sorry, but sorry cannot take away the impact of his crime,\u201d Hinds said.<\/p>\n

He said the victim was so traumatized by the incident that she had trouble sleeping for a month and when a probation officer interviewed her for the presentence investigation report, she couldn\u2019t stop crying, thinking about the incident.<\/p>\n

Hinds said the money that Cabrera stole did not go to purchase food or clothes, but to feed his addiction to methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d and poker.<\/p>\n

Hinds noted that the current case is the same charge as the previous one, but Cabrera\u2019s actions in this case were more desperate and violent as he used a knife to steal money.<\/p>\n

Assistant public defender Michael Sato, counsel for Cabrera, recommended a much lesser sentence. The Office of Adult Probation recommended a two-year prison term plus the suspended sentence in the previous case.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General originally charged Cabrera with robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and disturbing the peace. He pleaded guilty to theft as part of a plea deal.<\/p>\n

Police said that Cabrera stole $850 from Blue Sky Supermarket on Feb. 21, 2015, on Saipan. According to the cashier, Cabrera approached the counter, showed her a knife and demanded money. He then took cash from the drawer then fled. A surveillance camera led to Cabrera\u2019s identification and arrest the following day.<\/p>\n

In May 2013, Wiseman sentenced Cabrera to 21 days in prison for stealing his girlfriend\u2019s iPad valued at $500 and selling it to a stranger for $150. The incident happened on Jan. 28, 2013, on Saipan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ex-convict who was charged with robbing the Blue Sky Supermarket in Chalan Piao in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":214506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2336,2626,2337,2147],"class_list":["post-214505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-alvaro-joseph-cabrera","tag-attorney-general","tag-blue-sky-supermarket","tag-chalan-piao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214505","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}