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DPS clerk pleads guilty to fraud
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Posted on Jul 20 2000
A Department of Public Safety clerk on Rota charged in connection with unauthorized use of government account for personal long-distance calls pled guilty during a hearing yesterday in the U.S. District Court.
Trina G. Taisacan, 24, will be sentenced on October 24 on one count of wire fraud, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
But she is expected to receive lighter sentence which could be minimum incarceration and restitution of between $10,000 to $20,000 that she incurred using CNMI government funds to pay for the telephone calls, according to the plea agreement reached with the federal prosecutors.
Judge Alex R. Munson released her on a bail of $25,000 unsecured bond subject to several conditions. District Assistant Attorney Kevin Seely said the defendant is very cooperative, not a flight risk and does not pose a danger to the community.
Ms. Taisacan admitted guilt for incurring phone bills of between $10,000 to $20,000 paid by the CNMI government for making several overseas calls and allowing others to use the account entrusted to her by the DPS.
“I was issued a telephone long-distance card. It was only for government use but I used them to make personal calls,” she told Judge Munson.
Based on court documents, her unlawful phone calls began from January 1997 until its discovery on November 30, 1999, which constitute a fraud against Commonwealth’s citizens and government.
On May 27, 1999, Ms. Taisacan made many unauthorized personal long-distance calls from Rota to Oregon, using an official DPS telephone credit calling card issued to her only for the purpose of making official phone calls, the complaint said.
She also admitted giving out the account number to several unauthorized individuals with the intent to let them use the same for personal calls at the expense of the CNMI government.
Because of the disclosure, many of those individuals also provided the same account number to other people who “further abused the calling card,” the complaint said.
