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Woman gets 90-day prison term for harboring illegal alien child
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Posted on Jun 18 2020
The federal court imposed yesterday a 90-day prison term on a woman who was convicted of harboring an illegal alien child.
Upon her release, Lili Zhang Tydingco will be placed on three years of supervised release. Also, as soon as she gets out of prison, she is directed to report to an immigration official for deportation proceedings. If deportation does not occur and she is released pending further immigration proceedings, she shall immediately report to the U.S. Probation Office to begin her term of supervised release and must perform 50 hours of community service.
Tydingco was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and $100 in special assessment fee.
In her order yesterday, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona said that Tydingco shall remained free for the meantime but must self-surrender to the U.S. Marshal Service when notified to do so.
Bruce Berline served as the court-appointed counsel for Tydingco. Joey San Nicolas also appeared as co-counsel for her. Assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe represented the U.S. government.
On Sept. 9, 2019, a federal jury unanimously found Tydingco guilty of harboring an illegal alien, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. The prosecution called six witnesses, including the then-15-year-old Chinese girl who is the alleged harbored illegal alien. The defense called two witnesses. This was the second trial in the case.
In the first trial in June 2016, the jury found Tydingco guilty of harboring an alien and her husband, Francisco Tydingco, guilty of aiding and abetting the harboring. In December 2016, Manglona sentenced Lili Tydingco to 10 months’ imprisonment with credit for time served. She sentenced Francisco Tydingco to 21 months of imprisonment, with credit for time served. The Tydingcos appealed to the Ninth Circuit to reverse their conviction and vacate their sentences. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit reversed the convictions and remanded the case to the District Court for a new trial.
A superseding indictment was subsequently filed against Lili Tydingco. The U.S. government then moved to drop the case against Francisno Tydingco. The court granted the motion.
