Three more in cattle rustling get jail term

Three Tinian residents yesterday were given prison term ranging from eight months to one year by U.S. District Judge Alex R. Munson for their role in the cattle rustling case in the island municipality.

They were also ordered to pay over $119,700 jointly and severally for the crime which has already meted former Tinian Mayor James Masga Mendiola to three years probation and $20,000 in fine and restitution.

Herman Palacios Aldan, 31, received jail sentence of 12 months after pleading guilty last January to one count of conspiracy to conceal stolen property and one count of gun possession.

Franklin Borja Mundo, 32, meted 11 months imprisonment for the same charges, while the third defendant, Alexander San Nicolas Borja, 30, got the least jail time at eight months as he only copped a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy.

Under federal laws, the conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 10-year imprisonment, while five years in jail for the firearm possession charge. All counts have a fine of up to $250,000.

Assistant District Attorney David T. Wood, the lead prosecutor, said they got lighter punishment from the court due to the substantial assistance and cooperation they provided to federal and local authorities to pursue the case.

The U.S. government brought charges against the four last November following an investigation initiated by the Department of Public Safety on Tinian and pursued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Based on court documents, they carried out a plot to steal and butcher cattle owned by the Micronesian Development Corporation by sneaking into its pastures and then shooting two to three heads of cattle on a weekly basis — a scheme that prosecutors said began in March 1998 to March 1999.

They would then butcher the beef in the field, haul them out in pieces, transport and sell to people on Saipan. MDC, which operates the largest ranch on Tinian, had lost more than 120 heads of cattle amounting to $134,000 from the scheme perpetrated by the four.

Mr. Aldan, Mr. Mundo and Mr. Borja testified against the former mayor and congressman when the case went to trial last February, which eventually ended in a hang jury. Mr. Mendiola, 51, later changed his plea when the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor to one count of conspiracy.

According to Mr. Wood, the restitution imposed by Judge Munson will be divided among the three, with each one of them paying close to $40,000.

Mr. Mendiola, on the other hand, has to pay $15,000 to MDC in compensation for his crime and additional $5,000 in fines to the court.

Yesterday’s sentencing ended the cattle rustling case which Mr. Wood described as “clandestine operation” that its perpetrators conducted in the “dead of the night.”