Manglona’s aide pleads guilty • Aide admits he tried to influence a juror into voting against Sen. Manglona’s indictment

An aide of Sen. Herman Manglona has admitted that he tried to influence and intimidate a juror into voting against the indictment of his boss who is being investigated for allegedly taking bribe money from a local businessman.

Court documents showed that James King Manglona, also known as Jose Hofschneider, pleaded guilty to charges of “endeavoring to corruptly influence a juror” during a sealed hearing on Sept. 3.

District Court Judge Alex Munson unsealed the case yesterday.

By entering into a plea agreement with the government, King Manglona waived indictment by a grand jury.

King Manglona, who faces a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 12.

According to plea agreement, US Assistant Atty. Kevin Seely has recommended that King Manglona be given the minimum term of incarceration under the statute and sentencing guidelines.

The government also agreed not to prosecute King Manglona “for any non-violent offenses,” while the defendant, who is represented by lawyer Stephen Nutting agreed to “cooperate fully and truthfully” with the US Attorney’s Office, FBI and other agencies investigating the corruption case.

Investigation found that King Manglona approached the grand juror last Aug. 25 and offered to reward her if she would vote “no” to the indictment of Sen. Manglona, the former mayor of Tinian.

King Manglona also tried to convince the juror to persuade other jurors to vote in favor of the former municipal chief.

FBI investigation also found that King Manglona offered to pay the grand juror for the information she would give him about what transpired at the grand jury session.

The grand juror, whose name was not identified in the court document, told investigators she was “afraid” of King Manglona “because of his association” with the Tinian senator.

King Manglona was charged based on his taped conversation with the juror, which was translated from Chamorro to English by a US Marshall agent.

The case is connected to that of businessman Tito Sablan, who pleaded guilty two weeks ago to charges of bribery.

Sablan admitted to bribing Herman Manglona on several occasions in 1996 to win favors from the Tinian Mayor’s Office, particularly the award of contracts for municipal projects.

Sablan, according to court documents, paid a total of $14,500 between January and December 1996.

The US Attorney’s Office charged that Sablan was awarded contracts for federally funded projects. (MCM)