Ogumoro alleges DPS corruption

Holding some documents, former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio T. Ogumoro exposes alleged corruption at DPS involving former DPS commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero and others during a press conference held yesterday in his office at the True North Bar in Garapan. (Ferdie de la Torre)

Breaking his silence, Ambrosio T. Ogumoro has filed an official complaint with Attorney General Edward Manibusan about alleged corruption at the Department of Public Safety.

Ogumoro, a former DPS deputy commissioner, now alleges corruption during the administrations of then-governors Benigno R. Fitial and Eloy S. Inos involving former commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero, current DPS administration director Kaye Inos, and others.

Ogumoro turned in his complaint to Manibusan’s office on Wednesday afternoon. He also hand-delivered a copy of his complaint to DPS Commissioner Robert Guerrero that same day.

In his complaint, Ogumoro alleged that Deleon Guerrero and Kaye Inos used over $40,000 in CNMI government monies to go off-island for junket conferences and for a “lovers vacation.”

Ogumoro also alleged, among other things, that Deleon Guerrero as DPS chief asked for 13 inmates ostensibly to move furniture and office equipment; instead, the inmates were made to move evidence from a DPS container to a DPS office space.

He said some inmates even admitted tampering with the evidence and stealing methamphetamine when the police officers were not supervising them.

Saipan Tribune contacted Kaye Inos for comment, but was told that she has been on leave for the last few days. As of press time, Saipan Tribune was still trying to get comments from Deleon Guerrero.

In a news briefing yesterday at his office at the True North Bar in Garapan, Ogumoro said he is exposing corruption at DPS because he cannot stand that Deleon Guerrero, Kaye Inos, and others could manipulate the system and get away with it.

“A lot of these officers are scared to come forward because of their employment and being transferred out,” he said. He cited as an example his brother Aniceto, the most senior police officer in the whole CNMI, who was allegedly transferred when he reported the incident to the AG.

Ogumoro said his brother was transferred to the DPS Boating Safety Unit, then to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles as a driving test officer.

“That is very unprofessional,” he said.

Ogumoro said that Kaye Inos, as then-Boating Law administrator, misused federal grants for her personal gains during the Fitial-Eloy Inos administrations. He said Kaye Inos was responsible for the federal grant without supervision.

Ogumoro said that when he was acting DPS commissioner, Kaye Inos’ crime was documented and the papers were forwarded to then-AG Edward Buckingham, with the plan for Ogumoro to deliver the original documents to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and for the initiation of her arrest.

Ogumoro said that Buckingham took the documents to meet with Fitial, who later called him (Ogumoro) to explain that he will handle it.

He said Fitial “sweet-talked” him to just “let it be” because they will handle the matter.

Ogumoro said that Fitial never did and the investigation against Kaye Inos never happened.

“That’s why I’m coming forward because it’s continuing to happen,” he said, citing an internet issue at DPS.

Ogumoro said that Kaye Inos has been out of DPS for three years now but Deleon Guerrero and police officer James Rabauliman continue to provide her free internet, courtesy of DPS.

“She’s at home somewhere and charging to the DPS. That is one that I cannot stand, theft of service,” he said.

Ogumoro said this started at the time of his hiring and firing at DPS.

He said three Fitial-Inos supporters can attest that Inos became enraged when he learned of the accusations against his daughter. He claimed that this led to Inos pounding the table and defending his daughter.

Ogumoro said that Eloy Inos stated that, “if anyone is going to kill his daughter then he shall be the one to kill her.”

Ogumoro said it was his intention to forward the complaint to the FBI to effect the arrest of Kaye Inos.

When Inos became governor, that’s when the vendetta of Kaye Inos and Deleon Guerrero against Ogumoro started, he said.

He also alleged that Deleon Guerrero and Kaye Inos used to go off-island for vacations using CNMI government monies, under the pretext of attending conferences.

“We are talking about more than $40,000…and both will go off-island for a lovers vacation,” he said.

Ogumoro said the government did not benefit from those trips and those were not in the best interest of the CNMI.

He said Revenue and Taxation has all the documents as proof.

On the issue of using inmates, Ogumoro said Sgt. Joaquin Camacho told the inmates to stop moving the evidence when two AG investigators were getting out of their vehicle in close proximity of the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division parking lot in Susupe.

Ogumoro said Camacho then told the inmates to proceed after the two AG investigators went into their office next door.

He said an inmate described the evidence they moved being firearms, knives, marijuana, and “ice.”

At a later date, Ogumoro said, AG investigator Vince Babauta initiated an investigation on the missing evidence and inmates getting caught bringing it into the Department of Corrections.

Ogumoro said Babauta should have paid more attention than “looking the other way.”

Ogumoro disclosed that fake evidence was submitted to the Superior Court back in October 2013 under Deleon Guerrero’s leadership at DPS and was never looked into or investigated.

“Which makes me wonder if the $45,000 cash that was seized from a Japanese yakuza back in the 1990s is still there at DPS,” he said.

Last May 2, Ogumoro was found guilty of two corruption charges and acquitted of four other charges.

The jury found him guilty of theft by deception but not guilty of theft by unlawful taking.

Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo, who decided on the misdemeanor charges, found Ogumoro guilty of one count of misconduct in public office, not guilty of two counts of removal of government property, and not guilty of one count of misconduct in public office.

Sentencing will be on Sept. 12, 2017.

After that trial, Ogumoro refused to comment.

In January 2016, a Superior Court jury rendered a unanimous verdict finding Ogumoro guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of services, and theft of services for shielding then-AG Buckingham from being served with penal summons in August 2012.

Wiseman also found Ogumoro guilty of five counts of misconduct in public office, one count of obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness, and one count of criminal coercion.

After that trial, Ogumoro also refused to comment.

On March 30, 2016, Wiseman slapped Ogumoro with a one-year prison sentence. The defendant started serving the prison term on April 13, 2016.