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Man gets 1 year in prison for beating 2 girlfriends
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho yesterday slapped a one-year prison term against a 42-year-old man who beat up two girlfriends in separate incidents within a few months on Saipan.
After the hearing, Camacho ordered the CNMI Marshal to take defendant Topias Rufes Saimon into custody to start serving the sentence immediately at the Department of Corrections.
For two counts of assault and battery, Camacho sentenced Saimon to a total of two years in prison, all suspended except one year.
The judge ordered the defendant to serve the one year in prison day for day, without the possibility of parole, probation, and early release.
Saimon was given credit for 60 days of time served.
After completing the prison term, the defendant will be placed on supervised probation for three years. He was required to perform 100 hours of community work service, pay a $500 fine, $25 in court costs, and $300 in probation fee, and complete anger management counseling.
During the probationary period, Saimon is not allowed to consume any alcoholic beverages or controlled substances and prohibited from having direct or indirect contact with his former girlfriend and from harassing or assaulting his current girlfriend.
Saimon signed a plea deal with the government. He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery. As part of the plea agreement, the government moved to dismiss the remaining charges. The court granted the motion.
Assistant public defender Cindy Nesbit served as counsel for Saimon. Assistant attorney general Barbara Cepeda appeared for the government.
According to the factual basis of the plea deal, on Sept. 12, 2014, Saimon punched his girlfriend at the time on the head and face.
On May 2, 2015, while drinking at the beach, Saimon punched his current girlfriend on the face.
Camacho ordered the clerk of court to provide a copy of the judgment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Saimon is a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia.
