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DPW employee in bribery case gets suspended sentence
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Posted on Jun 09 2000
An employee of the Department of Public Works was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Alex R. Munson to five years probation after he pled guilty to one count of bribery concerning federally-funded programs.
Leonardo Manacop, 63, a U.S. citizen of Filipino origin, was also ordered to return the $8,000 and the photocopy machine he received as bribe as well as to pay $7,000 in fine and $100 in assessment fee.
The bribery charge stemmed from the discovery by the CNMI Office of Public Auditor which reported the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Based on court papers, Mr. Manacop admitted responsibility in February 1999 for accepting the money and the photocopier from a construction company trying to bag a contract from the public works department.
The bribery incident took place between December 1996 to February 1997 when he was an estimator for technical services division of DPW.
Mr. Manacop took the bribe offered by Epitacio “Toots” Lumactud, a representative of LVP Pacific Development Corporation with the intent to be influenced or rewarded in connection with a series of business transactions of the department.
However, Judge Munson meted a lighter sentence after he provided “substantial assistance” to federal authorities to uncover other irregularities and criminal acts over the past one year since his guilty plea in February 1999.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Seely, lead prosecutor, recommended a downward departure from the sentencing guideline in the range of 12 to 18 months imprisonment to probationary.
“He immediately cooperated with federal agents when he was approached. He accepted responsibility for his actions. He told the truth about variety of matters that resulted to substantial assistance for federal agents in the investigation and prosecution of other federal crimes,” he told in an interview.
“We worked for close to a year that resulted in a lot of cases being opened by the FBI,” added Mr. Seely.
Under federal laws, the bribery charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in jail, a fine of not more than $250,000, assessment and restitution fees and supervised release after imprisonment of up to three years. (Benhur C. Saladores)
