Woman in drug trafficking case faces possible 4-year sentence

A woman who has pleaded guilty to her involvement in a scheme to smuggle drugs into the CNMI through the U.S. Postal Service faces a possible four-year sentence, but her lawyer argues she should be sentenced to a shorter prison term.

Gao Xing Rui, one of three defendants charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,809 grams of methamphetamine that arrived in the mail on June 21–22, 2022, is up for sentencing this Friday.

Gao’s co-defendants are Yang Chun and Wang Yurong. The two have since both been issued imprisonment sentences of 70 months and 46 months, respectively.

The United States, through assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores, has recommended a sentence of 57 months or roughly four years.

“To maintain consistency in sentencing and to promote fairness, the government now recommends defendant be sentenced to 57 months incarceration. This recommendation is consistent with defendant’s plea agreement,” he said.

Gao’s lawyer, Richard C. Miller, has recommended a much shorter sentence of 37 months, claiming his client was the least culpable of the three.

“Ms. Gao is the last of three defendants to be sentenced for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. …She is the least culpable of the three. Yang, who directed the activities of Wang and Ms. Gao, was sentenced to 70 months in prison. Wang texted back and forth with Yang on WeChat about the arrival of the parcel, retrieved the parcel from a white Prius and brought it to her apartment, and was paid handsomely for her services. She was sentenced to 46 months’ imprisonment. Ms. Gao’s role in the conspiracy was largely limited to selling packets of meth to customers whom Yang identified for her,” he said.

Unlike her co-defendants, Miller said, Gao had no role in arranging for the meth to be smuggled to Saipan.

“Yang told investigators that he and Wang were paid directly for their roles in receiving the package—Yang was paid $500 and Wang $1,500. He told investigators that Gao just got small amounts of meth to sell,” he said.

Gao is set to appear before the U.S. District Court for the NMI this Friday for her sentencing hearing.

According to the complaint against Gao, between June 21, 2022 and June 22, 2022, she conspired and agreed with Yang and Wang, along with others, to possess methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance, with intent to distribute.

In December 2022, Yang, 45, and Wang, 49, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a federally controlled substance. (Kimberly B. Esmores)