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Trial starts for two accused of lying in passport application
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Posted on Jun 11 2012
The jury trial of a woman and her brother-in-law accused of lying in a U.S. passport application for her son began in federal court yesterday.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona completed yesterday the selection of the 13 jurors, including an alternate, who will decide the fate of Aifang Ye and her brother-in-law, Zhenyan Cheng.
Ye and Cheng, both Chinese nationals, are represented by attorneys Bruce Berline and David Banes. Assistant U.S. attorney Garth R. Backe is prosecuting the case.
Both prosecution and defense will give their opening statements today.
The indictment charged the defendants with conspiracy to make a false statement in a passport application. In addition, Cheng is charged with false statement in an application for U.S. passport.
Ye allegedly came to Saipan on Sept. 12, 2011, to give birth. Cheng allegedly posed as the father of his brother’s child.
Cheng’s brother, Xigao Cheng, left for China on Sept. 16, 2011, and has not returned to the CNMI, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Ryan K. Faulkner in an affidavit filed in court.
Faulkner stated that they discovered the filing of false statement after a surveillance operation on a car that had dropped off Cheng, Ye, and her infant child at the Saipan Passport Office on March 29, 2012.
