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Vann Le’s fate now with jury
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Posted on Aug 18 2005
The trial of Vann Le, the alleged mastermind in the City Trust Bank robbery on Saipan in April 2002, ended yesterday after three days of presentation of witnesses and closing arguments by the attorneys on behalf of the prosecution and defense panels.
The jury has begun deliberating on their findings. No verdict has been reached yet as of press time.
Prosecutors charged Le with three criminal counts— Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and using and carrying a firearm during crime of violence.
Local and federal authorities announced solving the bank robbery case in February 2003, charging three men—including Le—in federal court. At that time, the FBI took into custody two other defendants, Norman Kapileo and Lionel Borja, while Le remained at large.
Kapileo and Borja pointed to Le as the mastermind. Le, a former Saipan businessman who owned a watersports company, went to Vietnam after the robbery and put up a telephone and telecommunications equipment firm in the Asian country.
Saipan’s federal court finally set the trial on Le more than three years after the first and only bank robbery transpired in April 2002. Le first appeared in court in October last year after being extradited by authorities from Vietnam, where he was arrested.
Kapileo and Borja went to the City Trust bank in Gualo Rai on April 12, 2002 and robbed the bank of some $8,649. Before the duo fled the scene, Kapileo fired his gun.
The court had already sentenced Kapileo to 15 years and 10 months imprisonment, after the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to rob the bank and another charge of using and carrying a gun during the robbery. Borja had also owned up to some of the charges in a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The court had also sentenced a certain Jason Ruluked to 33 months imprisonment for obstructing the probe on the bank robbery and making false statements to federal agents.
