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FOR ATTEMPTING TO SAIL TO GUAM Woman gets 3 yrs. probation
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Posted on May 17 2000
U.S. District Court Judge Alex R. Munson yesterday sentenced a Chinese woman to three years probation after she pled guilty to attempting to sail from Saipan for Guam without proper documents.
Zhang Zhen Juan is the last of the four defendants to the case filed by the federal government in connection with a July 1999 incident in which they were arrested in Laulau Bay awaiting the boat that would ferry them to Guam.
Before her sentence was read, Ms. Zhang apologized to the court, saying she just wanted to send more money back home to support her family in China.
“I know I did commit a mistake. I’m sorry,” she said through her interpreter.
Ms. Zhang earlier had pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of attempted improper entry by an alien which stemmed from their arrest made by federal and local authorities.
Aside from her, three others — Huang Xie Mei, He Xiao Li and Huang Yu Lan — admitted their guilt and received a six-year probation sentence each.
Judge Munson meted the lighter sentence to Ms. Zhang since this was her first offense and that she accepted responsibility for her misconduct for which she was also fined with $250 and a $10 assessment fee. She was also ordered to provide 100 hours of community service.
The misdemeanor charge carries maximum penalty of six months in jail, one year of supervised release after serving out imprisonment sentence or five years of probation, and a fine of $5,000.
The three alleged masterminds, namely Christopher Patris, Otiwii Shuiping Xie and Shenqun Cao who allegedly received $3,000 each from the four, were accused of conspiracy to smuggle the undocumented aliens to the U.S. territory.
Their arrest last July came less than a month after CNMI and U.S. authorities sent back to China more than 500 undocumented aliens who were held for several weeks at a tent city on Tinian.
A total of 30 Chinese nationals were charged earlier in connection with this activity. Many of them pled guilty to alien smuggling charges and were recently sentenced with punishment ranging from probation to up to 16 years in prison. (BS)
