Ex-Tinian mayor gets three years probation

Former Tinian Mayor James Masga Mendiola was sentenced yesterday to a three-year probation and fined with $5,000 by the U.S. District Court in connection with the cattle rustling case in his island municipality.

He was also ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to Micronesian Development Corporation, owner of the ranch which claimed to have lost $130,000 worth of cattle stolen by the ex-congressman and three of his accomplices.

Judge Alex R. Munson set conditions for the probation and instructed that a payment scheme should be worked out with the Probation Office to meet Mr. Mendiola’s financial obligations.

The punishment was higher than the sentence — probation and restitution — recommended by the U.S. Attorney’s Office following a plea agreement with the prosecution in April.

“If people engage in cattle rustling and use others to aid them, this sentence will deter them from doing illegal activities,” Judge Munson said after handing down his sentence.

Mr. Mendiola admitted guilt to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to conceal goods within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, which carries maximum penalties of not more than one year in jail, a fine of up to $100,000 and supervised release of up to a year, plus restitution.

However, this is lighter punishment than the felony offense contained in the indictment filed with the federal court in November, which was tried last February.
The trial ended in hang jury after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Mr. Mendiola, 51, who was one time the Tinian representative to the lower house, was the last of the four defendants prosecuted by the federal government in connection with the investigation of a ring of cattle rustlers on Tinian.

His three conspirators earlier had pled guilty to the conspiracy charge and turned state witnesses against him during the trial.

Herman P. Aldan and Franklin B. Mundo were also slapped with a charge of felon in possession of a firearm. The two, along with Alexander SN. Borja, are expected to be sentenced with lighter penalties in exchange for their cooperation with the prosecution.

The conspiracy charge carries maximum penalties of not more than 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000.

Based on court documents, Mr. Mendiola pled no contest to one count of the conspiracy charge on several incidents of stealing beef from the MDC ranch that took place between March 1, 1998 to March 6, 1999 amounting to $130,000.

The group slaughtered the cows and hauled them off to transport the meat from Tinian to Saipan where they were sold.