41-month sentence for Ayuyu

The federal court imposed yesterday a 41-month prison term on former senator Juan M. Ayuyu. 
“You did not gain financially, but you have brought a significant shame to the Office of the Senate of the Commonwealth,” U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona told the 49-year-old Ayuyu.

Ayuyu was sentenced to only six months in prison for conspiring with others to smuggle dead fruit bats from Rota to Saipan but got the much lengthier sentence of 41 months in prison for what he later did to cover up his tracks, including instructing his co-defendant to lie to a grand jury.

Both sentences shall run concurrently. This means that the total actual prison term for the two charges is 41 months. Ayuyu was given credit for 228 days of time served.

Manglona allowed Ayuyu to remain free until a federal prison facility is identified where he will serve his sentence.

The judge did not impose a fine but required the former senator to pay a $110 court assessment fee.

After completing his sentence, Ayuyu will be placed on three years of supervised release. He will be required to perform 100 hours of community service.

The former senator had three criminal cases—the fruit bat case, obstruction of justice case, and cell phone possession case. He pleaded guilty to two charges.

Before Manglona handed down the sentence, she allowed Ayuyu to address the court.

Ayuyu begged for the lowest prison term, saying, among other things, that he still has one daughter studying in college.

“I know I made a mistake. It’s hard for me to say ‘no,’” Ayuyu said. “I’m not a perfect human.”

He said he did a lot of things to help people and that it hurts him when the prosecutor portrays him as a bad father.

“My daughter and my wife are here. I did not commit adultery to my wife,” said Ayuyu, glancing at his wife and daughter who were crying in the courtroom.

He mentioned that his son is serving in the U.S. Army, serving the nation for freedom.

“Am I a bad father?” he asked.

Ayuyu said he admits that he broke the law and that he has sincerely apologized.

“I suffered a lot. I will continue to be a law-abiding citizen,” he said.

As Ayuyu was about to take a seat, he went back to the podium to announce that it was his wife’s birthday yesterday.

In sentencing Ayuyu, Manglona said one month prior to Ayuyu being involved in the fruit bat case, three Rota residents were indicted in the same court for poaching on a breeding colony of threatened Mariana fruit bats.

The three are Ayuyu’s own constituents, said Manglona, referring to Albert Taitano, Adrian Mendiola, and David Santos. Apparently, Manglona said, Ayuyu was not deterred by the three’s indictment.

In the obstruction of justice case, the judge said that Ayuyu admitted that he met with co-defendant Ryan Manglona in his office—a place reserved for those who are entrusted by people to make laws.

Ayuyu admitted in the plea deal that he asked Ryan to lie because he wanted to influence, obstruct, and impede the grand jury from returning an indictment against him for the seizure of the federally protected fruit bats.

Manglona said that Ayuyu continued to take actions to protect himself as when he was detained at the Department of Corrections, he was found in possession of a cell phone.

Manglona said there is even testimony that Ayuyu solicited and insisted with a DOC officer to provide him with a cell phone.

Had Ayuyu readily accepted responsibility in the fruit bat case, he wouldn’t have been in court yesterday as his original case was only a misdemeanor, the judge said. Instead, the case escalated into a felony (obstruction of justice).

Despite being given an opportunity to correct the wrong, Ayuyu escalated his disregard of the law, Manglona said.

“I do find that incarceration is not only appropriate but essential,” the judge said, underscoring the importance of promoting respect of the law.

Assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe recommended a sentence of 41 months.

“He is lying to this day,” said Backe, adding that the court should send a strong message to the community about respecting the law and that those who abuse their power should be punished.

Attorney David Lujan, counsel for Ayuyu in the obstruction of justice and cell phone cases, recommended 33 months in prison.

Lujan said that Ayuyu has pleaded guilty, is remorseful, and accepted responsibility for the crimes he committed.

Attorney Bruce Berline, counsel for Ayuyu in the fruit bat case, recommended a probation sentence for the misdemeanor offense. Berline said his client made several mistakes and that he’s trying to correct them.

“He’s a good man. He’s a good person,” Berline said. “This is a fundamentally good person.”

On July 22, 2013, Ayuyu pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the smuggling of endangered fruit bats from Rota to Saipan.

On Sept. 30, 2013, the erstwhile independent senator from Rota resigned as a member of the 18th Senate.