Federal jury convicts man of stealing AMP lights

A federal jury convicted yesterday an employee of the Commonwealth Health Center who was among three men accused of conspiring to steal portions of metal lighting units from the American Memorial Park.

The 12 jurors found Masaioshy Daikichi Sallem guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit the unauthorized sale of U.S. government property and one count of unauthorized sale of stolen U.S. government property.

The jurors began deliberations Wednesday afternoon. They reached the unanimous verdict yesterday morning.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson set Sallem’s sentencing for Jan. 22, 2009, at 9am.

Munson denied assistant U.S. attorney Beverly McCallum’s motion to remand Sallem back to the custody of the U.S. Marshal until the sentencing date.

Munson allowed the defendant to remain at liberty based on the same bail conditions as the court had previously imposed.

The judge warned Sallem, though, that if he breaks the bail conditions, he “better bring a toothbrush” because he would remand him to jail.

Sallem’s court-appointed lawyer, Steven Pixley, told the media that the CNMI Supreme Court’s recent ruling that Federated States of Micronesia citizens are deportable aliens if they are convicted of felonies made it difficult for his client to negotiate a plea.

He said Sallem has been here on Saipan for many years.

In an interview with the media, McCallum said the U.S. government looked into the case and ensured that they were charging all people that needed to be prosecuted.

“The government had to prove that there was an agreement between two or more people to perform an unauthorized sale of government property and that was done knowingly,” McCallum said.

She said what was sold was a government property worth over a thousand dollars.

In count 2, McCallum said they had to prove that the defendant sold with knowledge that the property was stolen.

“I feel the jury brought back a just verdict,” she said.

Sallem’s and his co-defendants, Dominic Chipwelong and James Ochcha, are all Chuukese.

The three were accused of engaging in a conspiracy to steal portions of the metal lighting units from AMP and selling them to a recycling center in November 2007.

Chipwelong and Ochcha entered a guilty plea. Chipwelong was sentenced to 10 months in prison. Ochcha’s sentencing is set for Oct. 27, 2008.