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Alien worker pleads guilty to ‘ice’ possession
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Posted on Dec 05 2006
An alien worker accused of selling crystal methamphetamine or “ice” on Saipan entered a guilty plea yesterday in the Superior Court.
Jian Xiong Guan, 22, signed a plea agreement with the government and pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a controlled substance.
Associate Judge David Wiseman accepted Guan’s plea and sentenced him to five years in prison, all suspended except for the 27 days he had already served in jail. Wiseman gave the defendant credit for those 27 days.
The judge ordered Guan to pay a $5,000 fine, $100 assessment fee, plus a probation fee, and placed him on unsupervised probation for five years.
The defendant, a Chinese national, was directed to voluntarily depart the CNMI within 30 days from Dec. 5, 2006. Guan will not be allowed to come back to the CNMI for a period of 10 years.
The Attorney General’s Office charged the defendant with trafficking of a controlled substance and illegal possession of a controlled substance.
For pleading guilty to illegal possession, the court granted the plea agreement’s recommendation to drop the other charge.
According to the factual basis of the agreement, on July 5, 2006 the defendant unlawfully possessed a controlled substance.
A detective stated in his report filed in court that he and other officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force planned the drug-bust operation after their “cooperating source” disclosed that he was able to purchase “ice” from Guan last July.
The detective said the “cooperating source” managed to buy “ice” from the defendant by calling his cell phone.
Police said they instructed their “cooperating source” to buy $1,000 worth of “ice” from Guan.
The detective said the “cooperating source” contacted Guan on July 5 at 8:50pm and after a few minutes, the defendant called back, saying he had already placed the “ice” in a certain area in As Lito.
The “cooperating source” retrieved the “ice” and left the money in the area.
Later, a vehicle arrived and Guan got down to pick up the money. The officers, who were hiding in the bushes near the area, came out and arrested the defendant.
