Suspect in Sadog Tasi robbery pleads guilty

A man who is facing federal criminal charges for robbing a poker establishment in Sadog Tasi has pleaded guilty to some of the charges, months after his escape from federal custody.

John G. Pangelinan pleaded guilty to charges of Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy; using, carrying and discharging a firearm during the robbery; and escape from the custody of the U.S. Marshal.

Conviction on the charge of using and carrying a firearm during the robbery entails a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In a plea agreement between Pangelinan and federal and CNMI prosecutors, though, the stipulated sentencing range for the defendant’s federal charges is from 21 years and 10 months to 27 years and three months.

Pangelinan confessed that he conspired to rob the Capitol Poker on Saipan last April 29, 2004 and that he carried and discharged a firearm.

Although Pangelinan and his cohort did not get any money from the poker establishment, he shot and injured the establishment’s security guard, Angelo Miclat Laborce, and cashier Yun Ji Jiang. Pangelinan agreed to pay restitution to his victims.

The incident coincided with the governor’s State of the Commonwealth Address in Susupe last year.

Pangelinan and Daniel Muna Quitugua had earlier contested the federal charges against them, prompting the U.S. District Court to set their trial beginning Aug. 30, 2004. On Aug. 31, however, Pangelinan escaped from the custody of the U.S. Marshal.

The plea agreement acknowledged that Pangelinan is a career offender with prior felony convictions. On Jan. 8, 1996, he pleaded guilty to two burglary cases at the CNMI Superior Court, which meted out a suspended five-year prison term that mandated an actual prison time of one year.

On April 27, 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted assault with a dangerous weapon and robbery at the CNMI court, which got him a three-year prison term. That court suspended the sentence except for one year.

Pangelinan, assisted by lawyer Mark S. Smith, entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutor Patrick Smith and CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton.

“In the event that the CNMI Office of the Attorney General has charged…the defendant in the CNMI Superior Court with crimes arising from the conduct described in the indictment…[the AGO] shall seek to have any sentence for such charges run concurrently with the sentence imposed pursuant to this agreement,” the agreement stated.

The AGO had also separately filed with the CNMI Superior Court criminal charges against Pangelinan and Quitugua.