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Tower blast suspect gets 3 years
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Posted on Jul 09 2004
The U.S. District Court yesterday imposed a 37-month prison term against one of two men who set fire to the i-Connect telecommunications facility on Mt. Tapochau last Feb. 7.
Chief Judge Alex R. Munson convicted John Peter Reyes Mendiola for conspiracy to commit arson.
Munson ordered that Mendiola be on supervised release for three years after serving his prison term at a federal prison facility. Mendiola was also directed to render 200 hours of community service.
The judge held Mendiola jointly liable with his co-defendants to pay a total of $567,396.54 in restitution for the damage caused by the i-Connect blast.
The court had earlier meted out prison terms against Mendiola’s cohorts, Andrew Quiambao and Marvin Leon Guerrero. The Federal Bureau of Investigation tagged Guerrero, the owner of i-Connect’s rival firm Communications Specialist Inc., as mastermind in the arson attempt.
Guerrero, together with Mendiola and Quiambao, were directed to pay i-Connect some $316,200.92; CGU International Insurance PLC, $160,000; Motorola, $45,931.62; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, $45,264.
The Feb. 7 blast destroyed not only i-Connect’s facility but also communications equipment owned by the FBI. Quiambao and Mendiola used gasoline to set fire to the facility.
Investigations revealed that Guerrero masterminded an earlier attempt to burn down the i-Connect facility. I-Connect executives claimed that i-Connect took away some 70 percent of CSI’s customers on Saipan when it began local operations. Both i-Connect and CSI operate two-way radio systems on Saipan and Guam. (John Ravelo)
