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2 in driver’s license scam case plead guilty
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Posted on Jun 08 2011
Two of five persons indicted for alleged involvement in a driver’s license scam at the Department of Public Safety pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court as part of a plea deal.
Hongmei Sun and Hui Qiang Yan appeared with their court-appointed counsels, Robert T. Torres and Stephen Woodruff, for a change of plea hearing.
Both pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment.
U.S. District Court for the NMI visiting judge John C. Coughenour accepted Sun’s guilty plea and set the sentencing for Sept. 14, 2011.
When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom in the afternoon, the judge was still explaining the proceedings to Yan.
The indictment charged Sun with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and transfer an identification document, two counts of unlawful production of an identification card, and two counts of unlawful transfer of an identification document.
Yan was charged with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and transfer of an identification document, one count of unlawful production of an identification document, and one count of unlawful transfer of an identification document.
William A. Hocog, a former supervisor at the Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles who is also a co-defendant in the case, was seen outside the courtroom talking with his counsel, Vicente Salas. It was not clear whether he also pleaded guilty.
The other co-defendants in the case are Mohammad Jahangir Miah and his wife Tahira Dolores S. Miah.
