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Sentencing of retired cop in fruit bat case set today
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Posted on Sep 27 2011
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
Adrian Atalig Mendiola, the retired police lieutenant who was convicted of poaching Mariana fruit bats on Rota in 2008, will be sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
The District Court set Mendiola’s sentencing at 9am.
Attorney Ramon Quichocho is counsel for Mendiola. Assistant U.S. attorney Kirk Schuler prosecuted the case.
The original sentencing date was Aug. 16, 2011.
In May 2011, a jury found Mendiola guilty of unlawful possession of a threatened wildlife but not guilty of unlawful receipt or acquisition of a threatened wildlife.
Unlawful possession of threatened wildlife carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Mendiola, through counsel, moved for acquittal or a new trial. Quichocho argued that the case requires a new trial because the record is devoid of any evidence to show that the bats found in the freezer were of the subspecies Pteropus were indeed the federally protected Pteropus mariannus mariannus.
U.S. District Court for the NMI visiting judge John Houston denied Mendiola’s motions in July 2011.
The court dismissed without prejudice the charges against Mendiola’s co-defendants Albert Taitano and David Santos following the U.S. government’s motion.
