Manglona recuses from sex trafficking case

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted yesterday a motion to recuse herself from a sex trafficking case, in which the defendant implicated her brother, former Saipan senator and current Commonwealth Ports Authority board member Thomas “Kiyu” Villagomez, as one of the alleged true organizers of a prostitution conspiracy.

In granting defendant Wei Lin’s motion for disqualification, Manglona said she takes seriously any issues that would impugn the court’s integrity.

Manglona said she has a separate and independent duty to ensure that she self-recuse if warranted under the statute and has done so willingly in the past.

The judge said had this new information been presented by defendant Lin with the other documents at an earlier time, she would have willingly recused even in the absence of a motion.

The new information Manglona was referring to is when Lin openly moved for her disqualification and, for the first time, included a 2013 private investigator’s report of an interview taken of Villagomez by his investigator.

Manglona said at no time prior to this motion did Lin or his counsel indicate that her brother had been interviewed in connection with this case or, specifically, that an investigator hired by Lin had interviewed him and that he may have relevant information to this case despite having over five years to present this information to the court.

“The same attorney who argued at the first sentencing hearing in 2015 now contends that my close relative is in fact involved in this conspiracy,” Manglona said.

Lin was accused of luring women from China to Saipan on false promises of jobs and then forcing them into prostitution once they got on the island.

In April 2012, Lin was charged with three counts of sex trafficking and one count of financially benefitting from a sex trafficking venture. The sex trafficking occurred between July 2010 and November 2010 at the Rosen Music Studio karaoke bar located on Saipan.

On June 8, 2012, Lin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

In March 2015, Manglona sentenced Lin to 235 months of imprisonment. Defendant, through then-new counsel Bruce Berline, appealed his sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In November 2016, the Ninth Circuit reversed the sentence and remanded the case to the District Court for resentencing. The resentencing has been continued numerous times. The resentencing is currently set for July 18, 2018.

Lin, through counsel Berline, filed a motion last Monday, requesting Manglona to disqualify herself from his case as Villagomez is the judge’s brother.

Berline said the exhibits attached to the motion indicate that Villagomez is identified by the complaining witnesses as the “big boss” in the alleged prostitution operation at the center of this case.

Berline said multiple witnesses identify Villagomez as the owner and operator of a commercial building and a karaoke nightclub where the complaining witnesses allegedly engaged in prostitution.

In granting Lin’s motion to disqualify yesterday, Manglona said prior to sentencing, Lin’s prior counsel first raised the potential conflict in September 2013 but did not move for disqualification.

Manglona said she ordered the counsel to submit the evidence of the conflict in camera.

She said the counsel submitted the documents under seal, but expressly noted in the filing that Lin was not moving for disqualification because Villagomez would not be a witness.

Manglona said she reviewed the materials submitted, and issued an order stating there were no grounds for recusal.

On Dec. 9, 2013, former counsel was granted his motion to withdraw as counsel from the case. Lin’s current counsel, Berline, was then appointed.

Manglona said the U.S. government initiated the revisiting of the conflict issue on May 23, 2018 because Lin filed a public sentencing memorandum referencing some of the documents previously filed under seal in 2013, even though Lin had not filed a motion to disqualify or indicated an inclination to do so.

Manglona said during a telephonic conference between her and the parties, the U.S. government’s counsel referred her to the documents submitted in 2013.

The judge said the U.S. government’s counsel suggested that she articulate on the record the reasons why she did not self-recuse.

Manglona said she reviewed the documents again and concluded that there was no information suggesting that her brother was connected to any of the criminal activity in this case or that he had information material to the case.

Manglona reset the sentencing hearing to Aug. 29, 2018 at 1pm.

Manglona said the case is reassigned to U.S. District Judge David O. Carter.