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Former waitress pleads guilty to ‘ice’ possession
A former nightclub waitress who was one of four arrested in a buy-bust operation in Garapan and a raid on a Navy Hill home last October pleaded guilty last week in Superior Court.
Hong Hua Jin, 49, pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a controlled substance as part of a plea deal. She will be sentenced on Sept. 5, 2017.
Jin was found in possession of 7.8 gross grams of crystal methamphetamine on Oct. 27, 2016, on Saipan.
Under the plea deal, she will be sentenced to a prison term between zero to three years, with credit for time served, and a $2,000 fine.
Members of the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, backed up by the Customs K-9 Unit, arrested Jin and three other persons in a buy-bust operation and a raid last October.
A total of 26 gross grams of “ice” were allegedly seized from the four suspects, all of them Chinese nationals.
The task force, together DEA task force officers, held a controlled buy-bust operation in Garapan last Oct. 27, using a cooperating defendant to buy “ice” from Ying Li, a Chinese woman, also known as Sister.
During the transaction, Li allegedly contacted her female roommate identified as Jin.
The cooperating defendant allegedly managed to purchase $790 worth of “ice” from Li and Jin inside a car in the parking lot behind T-Galleria in Garapan.
After the cooperating defendant sent a message that the transaction was done, the authorities arrested Li and Jin.
Two baggies containing a total of 2.6 gross grams of “ice” were allegedly recovered from the cooperating defendant and inside the passenger side of Li’s vehicle.
During the search, Jin’s purse was found to have six small bags of 7.8 gross grams of “ice” while Li’s cellphone was found to have a small bag of 1.2 gross grams of “ice.”
Li’s change of plea hearing will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9am.
