Ex-speaker Rasa, wife arrested on theft charges

Authorities arrested former House Speaker Oscar C. Rasa and his wife Patricia over theft charges that accused them of scheming to defraud an 82-year-old businessman by claiming that they would receive over $1 million in land compensation from the government.

Armed with an arrest warrant, police caught the Rasa couple at the Aqua Resort Club Wednesday. Superior Court judge Ramona Manglona issued the warrant after the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit charged the Rasas with theft and theft by deception.

Clad in orange prison suits, the Rasas appeared at Manglona’s courtroom yesterday morning on their request for modification of the $30,000 bail imposed by the judge on each of them.

The judge said the Rasas could be temporarily released to their son Oscar Rasa II if they post 10 percent of the bail amount—or $3,000 each. As third-party custodian, the son told the court that he would not hesitate to call the police if his parents violate the conditions of their release after posting the required bond. As of press time, however, the Rasas have yet to post bail.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, AGIU investigator Juanette David-Atalig accused the Rasas of deceiving businessman Richard Szumiel of their capability to repay an outstanding loan. The couple allegedly misrepresented that they would receive over $1 million from the government’s land compensation fund.

Verification made by Atalig with the Marianas Public Lands Authority showed that the Rasas do not have any pending land compensation claim.

“The pertinent land claimed to be due compensation by the Rasas had already been transferred to another individual long before these transactions took place with Mr. Szumiel,” the investigator said.

Szumiel issued to the Rasas 28 checks totaling $72,000 from December 2003 to June 2004, and some $7,500 in cash, the investigator said. The Rasas managed to win the trust of Szumiel after the couple helped facilitate the cancellation of his adopted son’s farm plot revocation. Before this, the Rasas frequently visited one of Szumiel’s tenants.

After helping Szumiel’s adopted son, the Rasas began asking him for loans, making promises of repayment as soon as the government pays their purported land compensation claim, the investigator said.

Szumiel began doubting the Rasas repayment capability when the former lawmaker failed to show up at their agreed place in June 2004, after the latter promised to make some payment. He verified the matter with the MPLA, where he reportedly learned that the Rasas did not have any land compensation claim. Szuniel claimed that the Rasas began avoiding him since then.

Szumiel reported the matter to police. The AGIU investigator said she attempted to interview the Rasas several times from September to November, but the defendants never met with her for the interview.

Investigation revealed that the former lawmaker endorsed one check in the amount of $2,800, while his wife endorsed almost all the checks issued by Szumiel.

The judge prohibited the Rasas from having contact with Szumiel and ordered the defendants to surrender their travel documents.