Federal Ombudsman James Benedetto is joining the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office on Saipan, as federal agencies are beefing up their staff to improve law enforcement in the CNMI in line with the federalization law\u2019s transition period.<\/p>\n
The addition of Benedetto and lawyer Kirk Schuler brings to four the number of federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office on Saipan\u2014a first. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office on the island used to have a maximum of just three assistant U.S. attorneys.<\/p>\n
U.S. Attorney for Guam and the NMI Leonardo M. Rapadas announced the addition of Benedetto and Schuler to their Saipan office in a press briefing yesterday.<\/p>\n
Rapadas said the expansion of their office on the island, which coincides with the recently announced addition of several federal investigators, is part of the federal government\u2019s ongoing mission to improve law enforcement in the Northern Marianas and to prepare for the military expansion in Guam.<\/p>\n
Benedetto and Schuler will begin work as assistant U.S. attorneys on Sept. 15, 2008.<\/p>\n
According to Rapadas, Benedetto brings to the office \u201chis extensive prosecutorial experience, his reputation of inviolable integrity, as well as a deep knowledge of and affection for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rapadas said Benedetto would greatly bolster the Justice Department\u2019s ability to confront the CNMI\u2019s most pressing issues, including public corruption, human trafficking and smuggling, drug interdiction, and the transition to a federally-controlled system of immigration.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis integrity is beyond question. He probably got some people mad in the CNMI, but I think that\u2019s the functions of his quality of work and his integrity,\u201d he said. \u201cOne other important thing about Jim is he\u2019s been a long-time resident of the CNMI and really cares about the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benedetto served as a prosecutor in Alaska for five years. He moved to Saipan and worked as an assistant attorney general for three years. He then became a federal ombudsman.<\/p>\n
Rapadas said Schuler, who arrived on the island with his wife just a few days ago, would be handling some immigration cases. He said Schuler\u2019s presence is funded by the Department of the Interior\u2019s immigration initiative. He said there will be some immigration issues that will be coming up next year.<\/p>\n
Schuler comes from Iowa where he worked for Judge Mark W. Bennett in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.<\/p>\n
Before working for Bennett, Schuler worked for Justice Mark S. Cody of the Iowa Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Benedetto said he is very happy to have the opportunity to continue to serve the United States and the people of the CNMI. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a dream of mine for quite some time,\u201d Benedetto said.<\/p>\n
He said the most attractive thing about his new job is that the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office has the resources to prosecute cases the way he thinks they should be prosecuted. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhich means if you need a follow up investigation, you can get it. If you need an expert, you can get it. If you need a report or a test, you can get it. They have the resources and are committed to doing what they need to do,\u201d Benedetto said.<\/p>\n
Schuler said he is excited to be part of the U.S Attorney\u2019s Office and Rapadas\u2019 team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very thrilled to be able to work with three seasoned attorneys in the Saipan Branch office,\u201d said Schuler, referring to Benedetto and the current assistant U.S. attorneys Eric O\u2019Malley and Beverly R. McCallum.<\/p>\n
Rapadas said the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office is being expanded due to the DOJ\u2019s expectation that there is going to be \u201cgrowth\u201d in the CNMI in the next few years.<\/p>\n
He disclosed that some of their federal sister agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration are also expanding in the CNMI. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last several months, I have had the opportunity to speak with special agents in charge with ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms] and IRS [Internal Revenue Service] and they both expressed a desire to increase their presence in the CNMI,\u201d Rapadas said.<\/p>\n
He said all these is part of the DOJ\u2019s ongoing mission to prosecute to the fullest extent those who violate federal laws in the CNMI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Ombudsman James Benedetto is joining the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office on Saipan, as federal agencies are beefing up their staff to improve law enforcement in the CNMI in line with the federalization law\u2019s transition period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}