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Woman gets 3 years in prison for drug trafficking
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Posted on Aug 07 2020
A woman accused of selling methamphetamine on Saipan pleaded guilty last Wednesday in the Superior Court and was slapped with a three-year prison term.
Xuefen Lang, 43, pleaded guilty to trafficking of a controlled substance as part of a plea deal with the government.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho sentenced Lang to six years imprisonment, all suspended except for three years, without the possibility of parole, early release, weekend release, or other similar programs.
Lang was given credit for 31 days of time served in jail. After completing her sentence, she will be placed on supervised probation for three years, during which she is barred from drinking alcohol or using controlled substances.
At the hearing, Lang, through an interpreter, admitted that she was dealing with methamphetamine and stated she made a mistake. She also stated she never tried smoking methamphetamine.
Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig served as counsel for the defendant. Assistant attorney general Chester Hinds represented the government.
According to the plea deal, Lang was caught dealing in illegal drugs last May 20, 2020 on Saipan. The original information charged Lang with three counts of trafficking of a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to commit trafficking of a controlled substance.
According to the report of police officer Melvin D. Cadiang of the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force, they received information that an Asian woman known as Mom is actively selling methamphetamine or “ice.”
Cadiang said that DETF officers, along with a cooperating defendant, tried to buy methamphetamine worth $450 from Mom, later identified as Lang, outside a poker arcade in Garapan last Feb. 26. DETF officers, however, found out during tests that the substance that Lang had handed over to the cooperating defendant was fake.
Last May 20, DETF officers, using the cooperating defendant, was able to purchase $350 worth of one gram of substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine during a transaction in Garapan.
