Saipan Mayor’s Office staff arrested for illegal collection of marriage fees

Investigators from the Office of the Attorney General Investigative Division arrested on Friday a then-employee of the Saipan Mayor’s Office who allegedly unlawfully collected payments for marriage application and filing fees from several applicants.

Florence Tina Reyes Concepcion, 43, was arrested for theft, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of fund received, and misconduct in public office.

According to Attorney General Investigative Division investigator Urbano D. Babauta Jr., the total amount of money collected from five couples or 10 persons involved in Concepcion’s transactions is about $420.

At a hearing on Friday, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho allowed Concepcion to post bail equivalent to $1,000 cash and $9,000 unsecured bond.

Camacho allowed a third-party custodian for the defendant.

Concepcion, through her family, posted the $1,000 cash on Friday and was immediately released from prison.

Arraignment will be on Aug. 4 at 9am.

Concepcion’s lawyer, Bruce Berline, argued for the release of his client at her own recognizance considering that the charges are a misdemeanor, that she is not a flight risk, and does not pose a danger to the community.

Berline also disclosed that Concepcion’s contract with the Saipan Mayor’s Office appears to have already been terminated.

Interim chief prosecutor Brian Flaherty recommended a $10,000 cash bail but left it to the court’s discretion whether to release Concepcion to a third-party custodian.

OAG investigator Babauta stated in his report that he met with Saipan Mayor’s Office special adviser Henry Hofschneider on June 25, 2014, to talk about Concepcion, then an employee of the Mayor’s Office who allegedly had been receiving payments for marriage application and filing fees.

Babauta said a staff from the Mayor’s Office disclosed to Hofschneider that there were discrepancies associated with the marriage application of a couple. The staff informed Hofschneider that application and filing fees had not been paid, but the couple stated they already gave the fees to Concepcion.

There is a standing policy at the Mayor’s Office that no payments are accepted at the office.

Babauta said that he and another AGID investigator met on July 1 with a couple who stated that they submitted their marriage license application at the Mayor’s Office in the last part of June 2014. Concepcion assisted the couple and told them they had to pay $50 for the marriage application fee and $20 for the filing and application fees.

The couple made the payments in two separate occasions. Concepcion allegedly never gave the couple a receipt for the payments and only told them she would place their receipts into their file.

Babauta said he and an AGID investigator met another couple who submitted their marriage license application to the Mayor’s Office on May 22, 2014. The couple paid for the marriage application fees by check at the CNMI Treasury’s Office on Capitol Hill. When the couple went to the Mayor’s Office, Concepcion told them they had to pay $20 for copies. They gave $20 to Concepcion and that a couple of days later, they dropped off a red envelope that contained $100 cash for Concepcion. Allegedly, Concepcion told the couple that it was customary for couples who are married by the mayor to give the mayor money.

When the red envelope was delivered to the Mayor’s Office, Concepcion was on leave at the time. A staff called Concepcion that there was a red envelope that contained cash that was dropped off for her. The following day, Concepcion came to the office and took the red envelope from the staff. The staff knew there was money in the envelope because she had opened it. Concepcion allegedly offered the staff half of the money in the envelope, but the staff declined the offer.

Babauta said that another couple told him that when they asked where to pay their marriage application fee, Concepcion allegedly told the woman to just give her $70 since she was heading to the court. The woman gave the cash to Concepcion.

Babauta said the same thing happened to another couple he interviewed who told him that Concepcion allegedly offered to carry the payment for their marriage license application to court as she was going down there for a wedding. The couple gave Concepcion $50, but the latter did not give them any receipt.

Babauta said that on July 22 he interviewed a woman who stated that on May 19, 2014, she and her husband went to the Saipan Mayor’s Office to pick up a marriage application packet. Concepcion assisted the couple and allegedly told them they had to pay $70 for the marriage license application. The woman gave Concepcion $70. Babauta said that, on June 18, Concepcion called the couple that they had to pay $20 more. The woman gave the $20 to Concepcion, and that no receipt was issued her.

Babauta said under Concepcion’s scheme, after receiving the money, she would use the money for her own personal use and then at some point in time later, she would pay the fees at the CNMI Treasury and attach the receipts to their filed application.

Babauta said that Saipan Mayor’s Office employees discovered other altered receipts in Concepcion’s desk.