{"id":406014,"date":"2024-02-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=406014"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"1-of-4-men-involved-in-scheme-to-transport-illegal-aliens-to-Guam-pleads-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/1-of-4-men-involved-in-scheme-to-transport-illegal-aliens-to-Guam-pleads-guilty\/","title":{"rendered":"1 of 4 men involved in scheme to transport illegal aliens to Guam pleads guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of four men involved in a scheme to transport illegal aliens to Guam has changed his initial plea and has now pleaded guilty to the charges against him.<\/p>\n

Lee Jesse Omar Reyes went before U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy yesterday for a change of plea hearing in a case that also involves three others. The group, in this case, is accused of scheming to transport undocumented Chinese nationals to Guam from Saipan by boat.<\/p>\n

At the hearing, Reyes told the court that he had read and understood what it means to change his plea. Still, Reyes said, he wants to enter a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.<\/p>\n

Kennedy found Reyes fully competent to enter a knowing and voluntary plea and said she would recommend to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Ramona Manglona to accept the plea.<\/p>\n

U.S. Probation Officer Juannette David-Atalig also appeared at the hearing, and reported that Lee failed to show up for drug testing on Feb. 12.<\/p>\n

Despite this, David-Atalig recommends that Lee be allowed to be out, but be required to self-refer for substance abuse treatment.<\/p>\n

Kennedy, upholding a previous court order modifying the conditions of Reyes\u2019 release, granted David-Atalig\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

Reyes remains out of custody pending sentencing.<\/p>\n

Reyes\u2019 co-defendants in this case are Yan Juan Hu Taitano, Ramon Jose Quitano Sablan, and Maverick Ryan Iguel Marlik.<\/p>\n

The three remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them during a previous hearing.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, beginning in or about June 2023, Taitano and Reyes orchestrated a plan to transport a group of nine Chinese nationals from the Northern Mariana Islands to Guam.<\/p>\n

To carry out the plan, Taitano and Reyes allegedly hired Sablan and Marlik to captain a small motorboat from Smiling Cove Marina on Saipan to Guam on or about July 9, 2023.<\/p>\n

All nine Chinese nationals have been charged separately and have already pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, the Chinese nationals agreed to pay Taitano and Reyes up to $5,000 per individual.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn or about July 9, 2023, the defendants arranged for the boat to pick up the Chinese nationals at Smiling Cove Marina with the goal of transporting [them] to Guam. The Chinese nationals met Taitano and Reyes on at least two occasions to make down-payments; part of which\u2026Taitano and Reyes used to purchase the motorboat that was to be used for the trip,\u201d the indictment stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boat departed Smiling Cove Marina at approximately 9pm with\u2026Sablan and Marlik as well as the nine Chinese national passengers on board. The boat proceeded south toward\u2026Guam,\u201d said the indictment.<\/p>\n

However, en route, the boat ran out of fuel and began to drift just before it reached the island of Rota. They all had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court for the NMI.<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
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One of four men involved in a scheme to transport illegal aliens to Guam has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406014","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\/406014","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=406014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}