Judge Camacho dismisses charges vs ex-MCV staff

The Superior Court has granted the government’s motion to dismiss the charges against a former employee of the Marianas CableVision who allegedly provided free cable and Internet services to some customers.

At Wednesday’s pre-trial conference, associate judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed without prejudice an information charging Fernando Callo Estella with theft of service and theft.

Dismissal without prejudice will allow the government to re-file the same case in the future.

Earlier that same day, Camacho rejected a second amended plea agreement that Estella entered with the government regarding Estella’s criminal case and two traffic cases. The agreement proposed a total jail sentence of seven months for three cases.

With the rejection of the plea agreement, the Office of the Attorney General came back to court Wednesday afternoon and moved to dismiss the defendant’s criminal charges without prejudice.

Assistant attorney general Nicole Driscoll in the motion to dismiss explained that their primary witness moved off-island, and they were concerned that they could not meet their burden at trial.

Assistant public defender Matthew Meyer, counsel for Estella, did not object.

Camacho said based on the representation of counsel that the government is unprepared and the unopposed motion, the case is hereby dismissed without prejudice.

Camacho also noted that the long delay in this case stems from the parties inaction.

With respect to the second amended plea agreement, Camacho said it attempts to dispose of three serious cases.

First, the judge said, the most serious charge holds a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the proposed agreement provides for a mere six months in total.

Second, Camacho said, he is concerned about the payment of restitution, particularly because Estella may shortly be facing deportation.

Third, Camacho said, the case has lingered for three years in large part because the government and defense counsels have allowed such a long time to elapse.

Fourth, he noted, the sentence and the terms are out of step with the standards of the court and the CNMI community for such serious charges.

Finally, Camacho said, he particularly notes that defendant has been charged not only with serious crimes but with an attempt to cover up those crimes.

“Consequently, the court finds the sentence and terms unjust and unacceptable,” said Camacho in the written order.

The court also rejected the original plea agreement last January for being too lenient. The original agreement recommended a jail sentence of four months for the three cases.

Driscoll said the increase in jail sentence from four months to seven months is substantial given that a key witness has left island and is therefore unavailable if the matter were to go to trial.

Driscoll said MCV’s then manager, Mark Birmingham, is no longer on Saipan.

The prosecutor said Birmingham was the one who spearheaded the investigation of Estella within the company and witnessed the defendant trying to get incriminating information off of his computer after he was told to collect his things and leave the office.

With respect to the hit-and-run traffic case, Driscoll said the only physical injuries were to the defendant who spent several days in the hospital.

She said Estella has entered into a separate legal agreement with the victims in order to compensate them for the property damage he caused.

Driscoll said Estella came to Saipan when he was 4 years old, and his brothers were both born on the island, and his parents still live here.

All of Estella’s children were also born on Saipan.

“This conviction may lead to his deportation to the Philippines, a country he has essentially never known, meaning that he can do no more harm in the CNMI,” Driscoll added.

In the criminal case that was filed in 2009, police said MCV incurred $12,561 in damages for unpaid services for both the cable boxes and the Internet modems.

Police said the defendant, as a dispatcher, allegedly took out several cable boxes and Internet modems and gave them to family members and friends for free premium cable channels and Internet services.

In June 2010, a traffic citation was issued charging Estella with failure to yield, hit-and-run causing injury, failure to file an accident report, making false reports, reckless driving causing injury, driving while under the influence of alcohol, no safety inspection, and no motor vehicle liability insurance.

In another traffic citation issued in December 2010, the defendant was charged with reckless driving causing injury and driving while under the influence of alcohol.