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Sentencing of Guerrero not yet determined
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Posted on Apr 27 2009
There is no sentencing schedule yet with respect to former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Anthony C. Guerrero.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley told Saipan Tribune that the sentencing of Guerrero has not been determined yet.
Guerrero was among the U.S. government’s key witnesses in the jury trial of former Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, his sister Joaquina, and her husband James A. Santos.
Guerrero was the last witness called by the prosecution.
Villagomez, the Santos couple, and Guerrero were accused of engaging in a scheme to bilk the CNMI government out of thousands of dollars with a series of needless chemical purchases. Villagomez and the Santos couple were also charged with bribery.
Villagomez and the Santos couple went to trial. Last Friday, the jury found the three guilty of all charges. Their sentencing was set for July 28, 2009.
Guerrero entered a plea deal on Aug. 11, 2008, with the U.S. government. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Guerrero’s sentencing was originally set for Feb. 27, 2009. But U.S. District Court for the NMI chief judge Alex R. Munson in January ordered that Guerrero’s Feb. 27 sentencing be taken off-calendar. Munson the stated that the sentencing will be rescheduled at a later date.
The judge ordered the delay after Guerrero’s counsel, Robert T. Torres, and O’Malley, asked to reset the sentencing hearing.
Torres and O’Malley agreed that postponing the sentencing hearing until after the conclusion of that trial would be appropriate.
Munson approved the agreement of the parties to reset the sentencing.
