Previous Story
Woman gets 5 yrs. probation for illegal entry
|
Posted on May 03 2000
A Chinese national was sentenced yesterday to a five-year probation by U.S. District Court Judge Alex R. Munson after she attempted to sail from Saipan to enter Guam illegally along with three others.
Huang Xie Mei was also ordered to serve 100 hours of community work and to pay a fine of $250 and assessment fee of $10 following her guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge of attempted improper entry by an alien.
She is the second to have meted the court sentence out of the four Chinese charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in connection with the incident that took place in July 1999.
Aside from Ms. Huang, Zhang Zhen Juan, He Xiao Li and Huang Yu Lan, as well as three of the masterminds, were arrested in Laulau Beach by local and federal authorities while awaiting the boat that would ferry them to Guam.
Huang Yu Lan was also meted the same five-year probation by Judge Munson last April 5. Zhang Zhen Juan entered into a plea agreement with the federal prosecutors last February and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.
The misdemeanor charge carries maximum penalty of six months in jail, one year of supervised release after serving out imprisonment sentence or five years of probation, and a fine of $5,000.
The three alleged masterminds, namely Christopher Patris, Otiwii Shuiping Xie and Shenqun Cao who allegedly received $3,000 each from the four, were accused of conspiracy to smuggle the undocumented aliens to the U.S. territory.
Their arrest last July came less than a month after CNMI and U.S. authorities sent back to China more than 500 undocumented aliens who were held for several weeks at a tent city on Tinian.
A total of 30 Chinese nationals were charged earlier in connection with this activity. Many of them pled guilty to alien smuggling charges and were recently sentenced with punishment ranging from probation to up to 16 years in prison. (BS)
