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Five judges recuse selves
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Posted on Apr 12 2022
All five Superior Court judges have recused themselves from hearing the criminal case recently filed against Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for the alleged misuse of government funds to purchase airline tickets for premium class travels for himself and first lady Diann T. Torres.
Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja, and associate judges Joseph Camacho, Kenneth Govendo, Teresa Kim-Tenorio, and Wesley Bogdan all issued orders of recusal yesterday in the theft, misconduct in public office, and contempt case filed against Torres by the Office of the Attorney General.
Bogdan
According to Bogdan, he is recusing because used to serve as legal counsel to Torres. Camacho, Naraja, Govendo, and Kim-Tenorio claimed they have a conflict of interest in hearing this case but they did not go into much detail in their orders.
Last Friday, the Office of the Attorney General filed a criminal case against Torres alleging 12 counts of misconduct in public office and one count of theft relating to the issuance of airline tickets for business class, first class, or other premium class travel for himself and/or Diann T. Torres. The case also alleges one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a subpoena.
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- Kim-Tenorio
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- Naraja
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- Govendo
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- Camacho
According to the complaint, the first two counts of misconduct in public office goes back to April 12, 2018 when Torres allegedly issued himself, and his wife, first class airline tickets paid for by local funds.
Torres allegedly repeated these violations on June 8, July 11, Aug. 13, Aug. 16, Sept. 25, Nov. 15, Nov. 27, and Dec. 18, 2018; making up the remaining 10 counts of misconduct in public office.
Aside from 12 counts of misconduct, the OAG also charged Torres with theft for the same violations.
Lastly, the OAG is accusing Torres of contempt for his failure to comply with the House Committee on Judiciary & Governmental Operations’ subpoena on Dec. 10, 2021.
