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One of six alleged ‘ice’ traffickers pleads guilty
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Posted on Feb 13 2020
One of the six men suspected of drug trafficking pleaded guilty last Monday.
Shou Fu Zhang, 33, pleaded guilty during a change of plea hearing last Monday before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho.
Zhang pleaded guilty to a count of illegal possession of controlled substance, which is punishable by up to five years imprisonment, and a fine of over $2000.
By pleading guilty, Zhang would be sentenced to five years imprisonment with two year suspended. However, the sentence would still be decided at his sentencing hearing set for June 26.
According to Saipan Tribune archives, Zhang was arrested in November 2019, along with other alleged methamphetamine or “ice” traffickers, including Joshua Sablan Diaz, 34; Song Joon Park, 41; Li Hui Shi, 41; Yi Chuan Bai, 33; and In Jun Cho, 38. Each one was arrested in separate CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force operations.
In Zhang’s case, DETF said their “cooperating source” managed to buy $600 worth of “ice” from Zhang last Oct. 2, 2019, near a store in Chalan Piao.
In the second operation, the “cooperating source” was able to buy $450 worth of “ice” from Zhang last Oct. 16, 2019, near a bank in Garapan.
In the case of Diaz, a DETF “cooperating source” managed to buy $350 worth of methamphetamine from him at his home in Chalan Kiya on Sept. 23, 2019. That was allegedly repeated last Oct. 5, 2019, when the “cooperating source” bought $100 worth of methamphetamine from Diaz at his home.
In the case against Park and his girlfriend, Shi, DETF said their “cooperating source” bought $550 worth of “ice” from the two during a sting operation last Oct. 25, 2019, at their home in Dandan. The “cooperating source” was allegedly able to buy again $540 worth “ice” from the two last Oct. 28, 2019.
In Bai’s case, DETF said that it was Bai who delivered the drugs to Park and Shi at the Oct. 25 and 28 sting operations.
In the case against Cho, DETF said their “cooperating source” was able to buy $100 worth of “ice” from the defendant at his house in Garapan last Sept. 18, 2019. DETF said the “cooperating source” was again able to buy $100 worth of “ice” from Cho at his residence last Nov. 19, 2019.
