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Roberto witness pleads guilty to perjury
Randy A. Igisomar, a 22-year-old man who was indicted in federal court for allegedly lying during the jury trial of Raymond B. Roberto, pleaded guilty to perjury yesterday.
Perjury carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a three-year supervised release.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted the guilty plea and set Igisomar’s sentencing for April 17, 2015.
Attorney Robert Torres appeared as court-appointed counsel for Igisomar. Assistant U.S. attorney Ross Naughton appeared for the U.S. government.
In his sworn testimony before a federal grand jury on May 6, 2014, Igisomar testified that he had heard Roberto—then a defendant in a pending criminal case—instruct a potential witness in that case to destroy certain evidence.
Yet in his testimony in the federal criminal trial of Roberto on Sept. 10, 2014, Igisomar contradicted himself, saying he did not hear Roberto instruct a potential witness to destroy certain evidence.
These sworn statements are irreconcilably contradictory, such that one of them is false, according to the plea agreement.
The indictment also charged Igisomar with obstruction of justice, and false statement. The charges are expected to be dismissed at the sentencing.
After the hearing, Igisomar was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshal.
Igisomar was one of three men who bludgeoned to death a school security guard in 2008, burglarized the school and stole some laptops and other items. He was slapped with a 22-year prison term.
A federal court jury acquitted the 41-year-old Roberto of all charges that he enticed three undeeraged girls to engage in prostitution and tampered a witness while he was in jail.
A separate indictment charged Roberto’s other witness, former firefighter Richard S. Benavente. Benavente was charged with three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.
