Man pleads guilty to lying in passport application
Geoffrey Kim Cabrera pleaded guilty to the indictment charging him with false statement in an application for a passport. He will be sentenced on Oct. 5, 2012 at 9am.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona allowed Cabrera to remain free pending his sentencing.
Robert T. Torres served as court-appointed counsel for Cabrera. Assistant U.S. attorney Ross Naughton prosecuted the case.
The prosecution has agreed to recommend to the court that Cabrera be given a sentence at the lowest end of the imprisonment range.
According to the indictment, Cabrera applied for a passport on Feb. 12, 2010, during which he lied that his most recently issued passport had been lost at sea while aboard a small boat.
The U.S. government said the statement was false because Cabrera, in fact, had surrendered his passport to the CNMI Superior Court on Dec. 23, 2009, as a condition of his pretrial release in a 2009 criminal case.
In May 2011, a Superior Court jury reached a not-guilty verdict on Cabrera for sexual abuse in the second degree.
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter