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OPA prosecutes accountant but defendant can’t be found
The Office of the Public Auditor has been tasked to prosecute the case against an accountant accused of stealing $1,367.42 from Big Boyz Marine Sports Inc.
Defendant Michelle Rondon Daniel, however, did not appear at a pretrial conference yesterday morning in Superior Court.
Attorney Joaquin DLG. Torres, counsel for Daniel, informed the court that he could not find his client for three weeks now.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho ordered Torres to make every effort to locate his client.
Camacho also ordered OPA to check the Immigration Office if the 39-year-old Daniel is still on island or if she has already left the CNMI.
Jury trial is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2014.
OPA legal counsels George Hasselback and Ashley Kost appeared for the government at the hearing.
The Office of the Attorney General charged Daniel in March 2013 with one count of theft by unlawful taking
Police detective Catherine B. Pangelinan stated in her report that on Feb. 18, 2013, Masanari Yasuda, owner of Big Boyz, came with his wife to the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigation Bureau and provided documents to support their claim that their accountant, Daniel, had stolen money from the company.
Pangelinan said that, according to the couple, when they returned to Saipan from Japan in January 2013, they received several complaints from other companies and from company employees regarding payments.
Pangelinan said she and another investigator interviewed Daniel on Feb. 18, 2013, during which the defendant confessed to stealing company money to pay herself as well as other personal expenses.
