Xing Bo Fang, a man tagged by authorities as the leader of a group of meth suppliers on Saipan, is cooperating with the U.S. government and is willing to testify against the alleged second-in-command of a group of \u201cice\u201d distributors.<\/p>\n
David G. Banes, as counsel for Fang, and assistant U.S. attorney Ross Naughton disclosed that as part of Fang\u2019s cooperation with the U.S. government he has agreed to testify against co-defendant Yu Hua Wang.<\/p>\n
Banes and Naughton said Wang\u2019s trial has been taken off calendar due to the ongoing evaluation of his competency to stand trial.<\/p>\n
It may take up to 60 days to complete Wang\u2019s evaluation, said Banes and Naughton in a joint motion to continue Fang\u2019s sentencing.<\/p>\n
Fang has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine as part of a plea deal. <\/p>\n
The offense carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, a $10 million fine, and a $100 special assessment fee.<\/p>\n
Fang\u2019s sentencing was originally set for July 11, 2014. His sentencing is presently set for Dec. 2, 2014.<\/p>\n
Banes and Naughton said until Fang either testifies at trial, or Wang pleads guilty or is found incompetent, the U.S. government cannot properly evaluate the level of Fang\u2019s cooperation, including an evaluation of if Fang qualifies for \u201csubstantial assistance\u201d to the government.<\/p>\n
Last June, as a result of Fang\u2019s guilty plea, the federal court ordered the forfeiture of $8,500 in cash that was seized from him.<\/p>\n
According to the factual basis of the plea agreement, on Dec. 27, 2013, Fang sold 98.7 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride to a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source at the instruction of Wang.<\/p>\n
Fang and Wang were among seven persons arrested in February by joint local and federal law enforcements for \u201cice\u201d distribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Xing Bo Fang, a man tagged by authorities as the leader of a group of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[21,219],"class_list":["post-186108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-life","tag-ross-naughton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186108","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}