Ogumoro found guilty of 7 corruption charges

Former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio T. Ogumoro, third from right, emerges from the courtroom with family members, supporters, and friends after Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman announced his verdict. Wiseman found Ogumoro guilty of seven of nine corruption charges over his role in the shielding of then-Attorney General Edward Buckingham from being served with penal summons in August 2012. (Ferdie de la Torre)

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman announced yesterday his verdict finding former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio T. Ogumoro guilty of seven of nine corruption charges for his role in the shielding of then-Attorney General Edward Buckingham from being served with penal summons in August 2012.

Wiseman found the testimony of Ogumoro not credible. He found credible the testimonies of then-Office of the Public Auditor investigator Juanette David-Atalig, Police Officer Juan Mendiola, and other government witnesses.

Wiseman 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.

The judge, however, dismissed with prejudice the charges of conspiracy to commit obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness, and misconduct in public office.

Dismiss with prejudice means the government cannot re-file the charges anymore.

Ogumoro, 57, remained calm when Wiseman read his verdict.

Sentencing will be on March 23, 2016 at 1:30pm.

On Friday, a Superior Court jury rendered a unanimous verdict finding Ogumoro guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of servicers and theft of services pertaining to the same incident of shielding of Buckingham.

Attorney Edward Arriola, counsel for Ogumoro, refused to comment about the verdict.

Special prosecutor George L. Hasselback, counsel for the government, in an interview said they are very pleased with the judge’s verdict.

“We think it was well supported by the evidence,” said Hasselback, who was supported by OPA legal counsel Ashley Kost during the four-day trial.

Hasselback said he has not decided on the recommendation of sentencing.

“My approach is take it a step at a time. I will take a look at the facts that were established, take a look at the court’s order. The court issued a 12-page order, made a lot of factual findings in there,” he said.

As to the question of what is the maximum penalty of all charges, Hasselback said majority are misdemeanors.

He said there is one felony, which is the criminal coercion, but it doesn’t have enough threshold of potential punishment for the jury to decide.

“It has to be at least five years and $2,000 potential penalty. The criminal coercion comes with potential of up to two years,” he said.

Hasselback said misconduct in public office each carries a potential of up to one-year imprisonment and a $1,000 fine.

With the conviction of Ogumoro, Hasselback said if not closed, the case certainly is coming to an end.

“There are always things that can happen. I don’t want to predict anything down the road. It certainly is closing a major chapter on this,” he said.

As to five counts of misconduct in public office, Wiseman said testimony at trial, including Ogumoro’s own testimony, established that defendant was a public official acting in his official capacity during the events that took place between Aug. 3 and 4, 2012.

Wiseman said the government met its burden to prove all the elements of five counts of misconduct in public office.

In count 13 charging defendant with one count of misconduct in public office, Wiseman said the government’s burden is to show that Ogumoro willfully neglected to execute his duty to diligently serve a penal summons.

Wiseman said Mendiola and David-Atalig testified that defendant instructed several police officers who were participating in the OPA’s efforts to serve a penal summons to Buckingham to cease further assistance.

“This act evinces a lack of diligent effort to serve a penal summons issued by a court of law,” said Wiseman, adding that he finds that Mendiola’s and David-Atalig’s testimonies were credible.

Wiseman said Ogumoro testified that he was not aware that a penal summons was issued against Buckingham.

Wiseman said he does not find Ogumoro’s testimony credible in light of the many cell phone communications between him, then-governor Benigno R. Fitial, and Buckingham.

The judge noted that at least one text message from Buckingham to then-deputy attorney general Gilbert Birnbrich sent during the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2012, referenced an order to not accept a penal summons on his behalf.

On obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness, Wiseman said the government met its burden to show that Ogumoro unlawfully interfered with a law enforcement officer because it showed that he unlawfully interfered with David-Atalig’s efforts to serve a penal summons to Buckingham.

Wiseman said Mendiola testified that defendant instructed him to tell Police Officer Peter Camacho to inform David-Atalig to cease her operation to serve a penal summons to Buckingham or that she would be arrested.

Wiseman said he finds that Mendiola’s testimony credible.

He said Mendiola and David-Atalig also testified that defendant instructed several police officers who were participating in the OPA operation to cease assisting David-Atalig.

Wiseman said he finds that Mendiola and Atalig’s testimonies were credible.

Ogumoro testified to the contrary, explaining that he instructed the officers to cease assistance to David-Atalig because they were not in compliance with joint operation protocol—and that he did not threaten arrest of David-Atalig.

However, Wiseman said, he finds Ogumoro’s statements were not credible.

Wiseman said he finds that David-Atalig’s attempts to serve Buckingham with a penal summons were in the course of her law enforcement duties.

On criminal coercion, Wiseman said the government met its burden to show that defendant made a demand to intentionally compel another person to abstain from conduct that David-Atalig had a legal right to engage in.

The judge said Mendiola, who was a patrol shift supervisor during the events of Aug. 3 and 4, 2012, testified that he received an order from Ogumoro to inform Camacho to tell the victim, David-Atalig, to cease her operation to serve Buckingham a penal summons—or she’ll be arrested.

Wiseman said Camacho’s testimony supports Mendiola’s testimony and the court finds these testimonies credible.

Wiseman said testimony from police detective Elias Q. Saralu shows that Ogumoro had a keen interest in and guided the course of events during the night of Aug. 3, 2012 and the early morning of Aug. 4, 2012.

Wiseman finds Saralu’s testimony to be credible.

In this regard, the judge said, Ogumoro’s countervailing testimony that he had limited knowledge of the penal summons or that he did not indirectly threaten David-Atalig with arrest is not credible.

Wiseman said the government also provided that the means Ogumoro took to coerce David-Ataig into compliance instilled fear in her.

Wiseman said David-Atalig testified that she feared that she would be arrested by fellow law enforcement officers—and that she was fearful because an arrest would impact her career opportunities.

Wiseman finds David-Atalig’s testimony to be credible.

Ultimately, Wiseman said, David-Atalig did not serve the penal summons on Buckingham and instead, she enlisted the help of Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Haejun Park.

Park served Buckingham with the penal summons in the VIP room of the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport.

In dismissing the charge of conspiracy to commit obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness, Wiseman said notwithstanding his findings that the government met its burden to show that Ogumoro joined in the conspiratorial agreement, he must dismiss this count because the jury found defendant guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit theft of services.

Wiseman said the object agreement for the conspiracy to commit obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness—to prevent the service of a penal summons to Buckingham—is the same agreement established through evidence that supports the jury’s guilty verdict on the charge of conspiracy to commit theft of services.

Wiseman said CNMI law does not allow conviction on more than one conspiracy charge for multiple offenses stemming from the same object agreement.

On the dismissal of one count of misconduct in public office, Wiseman said the offense is related to conspiracy to commit obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness.

Wiseman said since he dismissed the conspiracy to commit obstructing justice: Interference with a law enforcement officer or witness, the court did not find that Ogumoro was guilty of said crime.

Ogumoro is the last defendant in this case.

Last Jan. 13, former Commonwealth Ports Authority police chief Jordan Kosam entered a guilty plea while the charges against his co-defendant, former CPA police captain John T. Rebuenog, were dismissed.

Kosam pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in public office. Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja sentenced Kosam to one-year imprisonment, but suspended the imposition of the sentence.

Naraja placed Kosam on three years of supervised release. Wiseman dismissed the charges against Rebuenog after Hasselback moved to drop the charges.

Former governor Benigno R. Fitial pleaded guilty, while Buckingham was convicted during a bench trial. Fitial and Buckingham did not serve prison term. The charges against Fitial’s former personal driver and bodyguard Jermaine Joseph W. Nekaifes were dismissed.