Court junks suppression of evidence in bribery case

The Superior Court has junked the request of a Customs official facing bribery and extortion charges to suppress evidence against him, including the alleged bribe money that lawmen confiscated from his vehicle without a search warrant.

Associate Judge Ramona Manglona said there are exceptions to the constitutional requirement of a warrant, which allow for lawful warrantless searches. He denied Manuel T. Vilaga’s contention that the search and seizure of the $263 and other evidence from the vehicle were unlawful.

Manglona cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirm an officer’s authority to conduct a search on an automobile when he believes that the car contains illegal items and is readily mobile.

The judge also cited another precedent ruling that an object that comes into plain view during a search could be seized without a warrant.

“In this case, an officer testified that he saw money lying on the car seat when defendant Vilaga first stepped out of his vehicle,” Manglona said.

“At the time of Vilaga’s arrest, as well as at the time of the search of Vilaga’s automobile, at least some of the items that were ultimately seized from the car were within plain view, including the $263 in cash that defendant Vilaga allegedly received from the cooperating witnesses,” she added.

The judge also junked Vilaga’s request to suppress his statement to the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit following his arrest in front of a Chalan Kanoa restaurant on Oct. 28 last year, saying that the defendant voluntarily waived his Miranda rights in writing by signing two consent forms. She said that informing Vilaga of the possible charges and penalties against him did not equate to coercion by lawmen.

The judge also denied Vilaga’s request to suppress the tape-recorded conversation between him and a certain Ge Dong Fang, although the woman was not named in the warrant authorizing wiretapping conversations between the defendant and a certain Zhou Yaping, the victim.

Court records showed that Zhou arrived on Saipan from China on Oct. 16, 2004. Customs officials seized from her items that were considered contraband, but she was allowed to leave the Saipan International Airport.

Vilaga allegedly told her that she could end up in jail for bringing in the items. The defendant allegedly represented that he could release the items to her in exchange for money. Zhou asked Ge’s help in speaking with Vilaga because the latter was English literate.

Lawmen conducted surveillance on Vilaga, with Zhou and Ge acting as cooperating witnesses.