Ex-Marpac GM gets 41-month prison sentence

The federal court yesterday imposed a 41-month prison term on former Marianas Pacific Distributors general manager Joseph Vincent Santos, who defrauded the company of over half a million dollars.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson also ordered Santos to immediately pay the Guam-based Marpac Ambros Inc. a total of $521,813.

Upon completing his prison term, Santos shall be placed on three years of supervised release.

The defendant was given credit for the time he has already served in jail.

During the supervised release period, Santos is prohibited from incurring new credit charges or open additional lines of credit without the approval of the U.S. Probation Office.

Munson also required Santos to perform 300 hours of community service and pay a $100 special assessment fee.

The judge acknowledged that the defendant is willing to forfeit the $10,000 bond toward his restitution and any other jewelry or items in his possession that can be sold to help satisfy the restitution to Marpac. Munson ordered that luxury items such as watches and others be delivered to U.S. Probation Officer Judy O’Campo in Guam for processing.

Munson granted Santos’ request that he be allowed to surrender by himself at the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Guam as soon as a Bureau of Prison’s jail facility has been designated for him.

The judge, however, required that Santos check in with the U.S. Marshal’s Office in Guam by telephone on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays between 9am to 11am.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly McCallum had recommended 37 months in prison, three years of supervised release and restitution as punishment for Santos. Defense attorney Colin Thompson had pushed for the lowest end of the guidelines—33 months imprisonment.

In an interview with the media after the sentencing, McCallum said the government asked for the mid-point of the sentencing guidelines, which was 37 months but the court imposed the high end.

“I think the judge handed down an immensely fair sentence in this case and the government is well satisfied,” McCallum said.

Thompson refused to comment to the media.

As a franchisee of Anheuser-Busch, Marpac sells beer products to retail vendors on Saipan.

The U.S. government alleged that between January 2003 and April 2006, Santos made a total of $521,813.40 in unexplained cash deposits into four separate bank accounts.

The prosecution said that, in that period Santos “devised a scheme and artifice to defraud Marpac and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.”

In September 2007, Santos pleaded guilty to an information charging him with mail fraud.

The sentencing was originally set for Dec. 11, 2007, but it was re-set several times after the parties filed stipulations.

One the reasons for the postponement of the sentencing was because Munson wants the U.S. Probation Office to locate the $500,000 that was previously in the bank accounts of the defendant.

The postponements were requested so the Federal Bureau of Investigation could research the defendant’s bank records.