Mother testifies she had sex with Roberto for drugs, cash

A 28-year-old mother of three testified yesterday that Raymond B. Roberto had sex with her several times, including a threesome, in exchange for drugs and cash last year or a year before.

The U.S. government called the woman to the witness stand after the 19-year-old cousin of the first alleged victim completed her testimony yesterday morning. The 19-year-old woman testified that she is also a victim as Roberto had sex with her when she was just 16 and 17 years old.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona called for a recess at 4pm. Trial will resume Monday morning.

Manglona ordered an early recess after Roberto’s lead counsel, David J. Lujan, asked for a full day to review the 500 pages of text messages that the U.S. government submitted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rami S. Badawy said it’s not new evidence, but a condensed version of text messages. Badawy said they have no more witnesses in the case.

Manglona ordered the prosecution to highlight those already admitted as evidence in that condensed version. The judge said they will then discuss legal issues whether to accept or deny it as evidence.

The mother of three said she was serving a four-month prison term for domestic violence at the Department of Corrections but did not serve the full sentence. She said she was released on April 8, 2014, because she cooperated with officials or investigators in Roberto’s case.

The woman said a person introduced her to Roberto last year or a year and that she and Roberto had sex in exchange for drugs and money.

The woman recalled that the first incident happened at Parkville Motel in Gualo Rai where she and another woman had sex with the defendant. After their threesome, the woman said Roberto gave her money and drugs.

After that incident, the woman said she and Roberto had sex several more times in exchange for drugs and money. She said these happened at Roberto’s house on As Lito Road, at his farm in As Lito, and at a beach in District 4. She said they had sex once at his house.

She said that Roberto also asked her to introduce him to other girls for sex in exchange for drugs and money. The woman said she introduced Roberto to her cousin, but she did not know what happened to them.

The woman identified text messages that she and Roberto exchanged during their discussion about introducing him to her cousin. She said Roberto would use the letter “O” as a code for him during his text messages to her.

The witness said while she was serving prison term at DOC, Roberto communicated with her using a note and over the glass partition. At one time, she said Roberto motioned to her by putting a finger to his lips, in a signal for her to keep quiet.

She later met an inmate at DOC, Randy Igisomar, and they became friends. She said they communicated through letters. After she was released from DOC, Igisomar called her everyday.

She said that, either on April 24 or 25, 2014, Igisomar called her, but Roberto suddenly got on the phone. She said Roberto told her to get rid of her phone’s SIM card. She said Roberto instructed her not tell anyone that he talked to her about the SIM card.

At cross-examination, Lujan’s first question was “Are you a prostitute, too?”

Manglona immediately called Lujan and the prosecution for a sidebar. After a few minutes, she instructed the jurors that Lujan’s question is stricken.

The mother of three said the woman involved in their threesome was an adult at that time. She also stated that the cousin that she introduced to Roberto is also an adult.

She said she does not know whether her cousin and Roberto ever met.

When asked by Lujan about DOC, the witness said everything at DOC is possible as it depends on who the guards are. She said most of the male guards at DOC are corrupt but the female guards are doing fine.

The witness agreed with Lujan that during her encounters with Roberto, she was cheating on her then-boyfriend.

She also agreed with Lujan that in those exchange of text messages, there was no mention of sex in exchange for drugs or money. The witness stated that she and Roberto only talked about sex for drugs and cash during phone conversations.

Roberto, 41, a former acting director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife, is on trial for three counts of enticing three minors to engage in prostitution and one count of witness tampering.