Ex-CPA officer’s conviction affirmed

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the conviction of Floyd Mafnas Mendiola, a former Commonwealth Ports Authority officer who was slapped with a 10-month prison term in 2015 for twice helping facilitate the sale of methamphetamine or “ice.”

Ninth Circuit judges J. Clifford Wallace, Joseph Jerome Farris, and Paul J. Watford said that even though Mendiola has been released from prison and his supervised release is set by statute, his challenge to the U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona’s refusal to reduce his role to one that is minor is not moot.

The Ninth Circuit judges concluded that Manglona did not abuse her discretion in denying the reduction.

The judges said Manglona permissibly concluded that Mendiola’s behavior of bringing together the buyer and seller, arranging the price and location of the buys, and allowing use of his residence for one of the buys is not a minor role.

The judges said Manglona correctly concluded that Mendiola’s statements were voluntary.

The judges said Mendiola’s status as a confidential informant cannot be said to have overcome his will, especially since he was familiar with law enforcement techniques and testified that he had been advised that his decision to cooperate was voluntary.

It is true that the FBI promised to inform prosecutors about Mendiola’s cooperation, the judges said, but an FBI agent made it clear that the FBI could not promise him immunity from prosecution.

As a result, the judges said, this promise did not render Mendiola’s statement involuntary. Nor does the fact that the FBI agent failed to inform Mendiola that the FBI had decided to stop using him as a confidential informant render his statements involuntary, the judges said.

While the agent’s tactics undoubtedly amounted to deception, it does not render a confession involuntary, the judges said.

Federal agents arrested Mendiola on May 27, 2014, after an indictment was filed charging him with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Feb. 27 to March 2, 2013.

According to the factual basis of the plea deal, Mendiola agreed to help facilitate the sale of “ice” to an individual who, unbeknownst to him, was working as a confidential source for the FBI.