Habitual offender gets max of 30 years for sexual abuse

A repeat offender with a prior conviction as an accessory to murder was resentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a girl when she was just 16 years old in 2009.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho said he imposed the maximum possible sentence on Alfredo Evangelista Reyes so he will be unable to hurt anyone for the next 30 years.

The 55-year-old Reyes was directed to serve the 30 years in prison without parole. The judge cited Reyes’ serious prior convictions that includes accessory to murder.

“[He] is a danger to the community and especially to the children of the CNMI and parole would not serve the interest of justice,” Camacho said.

Reyes was given credit for time served. He was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Camacho said that Reyes used the information that the victim was having sex with another family member as leverage to impose his own desires on her. The judge noted that all three sexual abuse incidents happened at a beach or jungle areas.

Chief Prosecutor Michele Harris had recommended a sentence of 31 years imprisonment. Attorney Charles Reyes Jr., the court-appointed counsel for Reyes, recommended a sentence of eight years in prison.

The 30-year prison term is the same sentence that Camacho imposed on Reyes during the first sentencing in 2014. Yet even this lengthy sentence from his prior convictions failed to impress upon Reyes to be a law-abiding citizen, Camacho said.

On Dec. 13, 2013, a Superior Court jury unanimously found Reyes guilty of three counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree.

Camacho, who presided over the misdemeanor charges, found him guilty of three counts of assault and battery.

On Jan. 22, 2014, Camacho sentenced Reyes to the maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment. Reyes appealed, asking the CNMI Supreme Court to reverse his conviction and sentence.

The CNMI Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in April 2016, saying there was ample evidence supporting the conviction, but vacated the sentence and remanded the matter to the Superior Court for resentencing.

Reyes sexually abused the girl at Laulau Beach in May 2009, at Coral Ocean Point beach in September 2009, and in the jungle area near Hawaiian Rock Co. in December 2009.

Reyes has 11 children from four different relationships.

Reyes served 10 years in prison for accessory to murder in the first degree.

The murder happened on Saipan in early 1980s when he and a man beat up another man. While the victim was on the ground, he was fatally shot twice in the head, according to court records.