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Second illegal construction worker pleads guilty, gets time served
An overstaying tourist who was recently arrested for illegally working as a construction worker on Saipan pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday afternoon.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona sentenced Youcai Li to 14 days of time served, ordered him to pay a $10 court assessment fee, and placed him on one year of supervised release.
Li will immediately be deported.
Benjamin Petersburg is the court-appointed counsel for Li. Assistant U.S. attorney James Benedetto appeared for the U.S. government.
According to the factual basis of the plea agreement, Li entered Saipan on March 18, 2018, lying to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector that his purpose was for “tourism.” In fact, his purpose for entering included his intention to find work and reside in the U.S. beyond the time allowed by his conditional parole status.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Li and Shubiao Niu along the road near Moonlight Shopping along Beach Road in Chalan Kanoa two weeks ago.
Niu, pleaded guilty last Thursday to the same offense. Niu was sentenced to six days of time served in jail.
