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Rota DCCA chief is arrested
Members of the CNMI Public Corruption and White Collar Crimes Task Force arrested yesterday Rota Department of Community and Cultural Affairs resident director Josepha Barcinas Manglona on corruption charges.
Sources disclosed that Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho issued the arrest warrant and imposed a $50,000 cash bail on the 53-year-old Manglona for theft, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking or disposition, and removal of government property.
Task Force members are set to transport Manglona to the Department of Corrections today, Friday.
Sources said Manglona was still at the Rota Department of Public Safety holding cell as of last night because the flight for Saipan was fully booked.
Manglona’s flight to Saipan will be late afternoon today, Friday, sources said.
Sources said the charges stemmed from 2013 when Manglona was the director of the Rota Aging Center, where she allegedly took a table worth $1,000 from the center and traded it with another person for cinder blocks to build her kitchen.
The table was reportedly donated by a then-Rota senator to the Aging Center.
The Office of the Public Auditor with the assistance of the Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation.
Last week, Task Force arrested former Rota Finance resident director StaceyAnn Manglona Atalig, Tina M. Atalig, Alred M. Apatang, Rowena Barcinas, and Andrew Barcinas on corruption charges.
Tina Atalig is former secretary of then-Rota mayor A. Melchor Mendiola, while Apatang is the former field supervisor of then-mayor Mendiola. Rowena Barcinas is a Rota Procurement officer, while Andrew Barcinas is her husband, a retired police officer.
As of yesterday, an arrest warrant has not been served yet on former mayor Mendiola, who is also facing corruption charges. He is reportedly in the U.S. mainland right now.
