The long arm of the law finally caught up with fugitive lawyer Joseph Aldan Arriola on Tuesday in a village in the northern part of the Philippines.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent informed the U.S. District Court for the NMI yesterday of Arriola's arrest just before the start of the new jury trial of Arriola's co-defendant, Luis K. Pelisamen.
After hearing the information, attorney Douglas Cushnie, counsel for Pelisamen, told the court that they will proceed with the jury trial.
According to a report in the website of the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer, the 42-year-old Arriola did not resist arrest when a composite team of law enforcers swooped down on his residence on Tuesday shortly before lunch at Barangay (village) Butao in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.
The report stated that the Saipan lawyer has been turned over to Philippine immigration agents, who will process his deportation to the U.S.
The report said that, in a letter to the chief of the Philippine's Bureau of Immigration, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed that Arriola's passport had been revoked by the U.S. State Department after Arriola and Pelisamen were indicted in the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Saipan.
The U.S. Justice Department asked the Bureau of Immigration to issue a mission order to arrest and deport Arriola to the U.S.
The report mentioned that on April 27, 2009, Arriola went to the U.S. Embassy in Metro Manila to submit documents in preparation for his marriage to his Filipino fiancee, Jovie Cerveza.
Cerveza is a resident of Barangay Cablong, which is also located in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.
The report stated that Arriola could have been staying in Sta. Barbara for a year now, moving from village to another.
The Inquirer story quoted police chief Supt. Eric Noble as saying that, on Monday night, police searched for Arriola's fiancee in Cablong but residents there told them that she and her spouse had moved.
“The lead came from a police officer who lives there [in Butao]. When I mentioned [Arriola's fiancee's] name, he knew the lady,” Noble told Inquirer.
Arriola and Pelisamen are facing charges of wire fraud and money laundering. The FBI arrested Pelisamen in January 2008 following the indictment. Arriola, however, fled the CNMI.
Last month, a hung jury prompted the federal court to declare a mistrial in the case against Pelisamen.
Pelisamen used to serve as administrator for the estate of Rita Kaipat. Arriola served as then counsel for Pelisamen.
Then Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama kicked out Pelisamen and Arriola from the Kaipat estate after finding out that some of the estate's money was missing.
According to the indictment, Arriola and Pelisamen stole $625,575 from the estate's account. The two allegedly issued 66 checks amounting to $219,000 to themselves.
Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. government and the defense completed their opening arguments in the trial of Pelisamen.
When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom, former Superior Court associate judge Timothy H. Bellas, who also used to serve as counsel for the Rita Kaipat estate, was still on the witness stand.
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