CHUUK,10 NOVEMBER 2017 (MARIANAS VARIETY)—- Four young men were charged with a total of 10 felonies filed by the FSM national government in Weno.
The charges are related to the theft of firearms, ammunition, a laptop and other items from the Chuuk headquarters of the FSM National Police on Oct. 12.
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Morgan Alex Serious, Kthree Mataichy, Limo Elimo, and a 16-year-old defendant are charged with the crimes. Police arrested the defendants, one of whom is the son of the Chuuk governor. The State and National Leadership Conference was taking place in Chuuk at the time.
The affidavit of probable cause by the investigating officer says that fingerprint evidence, eyewitness reports and confessions by some of the defendants support the criminal information filed by the national government.
The affidavit claims that on the evening of Oct. 12, Elimo drove the three others to the complex where the national police have an office. The three others jumped over a retaining wall behind the complex and opened a sliding glass window and unlocked the back door. Once inside they broke into locked cabinets and through locked doors. They stole a laptop computer, handguns, ammunition, “long guns” (.22 caliber rifles), police uniform items, a satellite phone, handcuffs, car keys to police vehicles, and other items. Some of the weapons are used by national police for the discharge of their duties. Some were being stored as evidence for outstanding criminal cases.
The affidavit claims that Elimo drove the three others who broke into the building. Those three carried some of the stolen goods to Elimo’s “black Trailblazer” SUV, loaded them into the vehicle and left. It claims that later on that night or early the next morning three of them returned again with Elimo driving to the building and made another trip to get the rest of the items they intended to steal.
Jessy Mefy told police that at about 9 on October12 he was at his house in Penia when Elimo and three other males came to his house. He said that Elimo offered him rifles that were in his car in exchange for a whole marijuana plant. Mefy told police that he agreed to the deal. He surrendered 12 .22 calibers rifles to the police with serial numbers that matched those that were locked in the cabinet at the national police office.
Three witnesses reported that on October14 they had heard gunshots from the Mechitiw Causeway and saw the muzzle flashes coming from the black car that belongs to Elimo.
Other witnesses retrieved the spent cartridges that had been fired and turned them over to police.
According to the affidavit, Serious and the minor defendant said that they witnessed Elimo fire a black handgun from inside the car. They also confessed to other elements of the crimes as did Mataichy….PACNEWS [/restrict]