Pinoy driver faces 13 cases in Micronesia for smuggling Pinoys to US

A 41-year-old Filipino who worked as driver at the Micronesian Embassy in Washington DC is facing 13 criminal charges before the Supreme Court in Micronesia in connection with the smuggling of at least 50 Filipinos into the US purportedly in conspiracy with former Micronesian ambassador to the US Jesse B. Marehalau. Bill Jaynes of the Kaselehlie Press reported on Tuesday (Manila time) that Attorney General Marstella Jack filed the cases on May 14, the first day in office of the Federated States of Micronesia President Manny Mori. Micronesia is an island state in the North Pacific Ocean with roughly 120, 000 people. “The 13 charges look like a laundry list for white collar criminals including two counts of bribery in official and political matters, one count of criminal conspiracy, four counts of over-obligation of government funds, two counts of tampering with public records and information, and four counts of theft against the government," Jaynes noted. The former Micronesian ambassador and Calderon face a total of $800,000 (equivalent to P37 million) in fines and 170 years in prison if, and when, convicted of the charges. They can also be disqualified from holding any position in government if convicted of the charge of tampering with public records. Calderon, alias Amang, was indicted in New Jersey in May 2006 on related charges that he altered stolen passports to help smuggle Filipinos into the United States between December 2004 and January 2006. Another Filipino, Roehl Rivera, from Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija (Philippines) was charged as a co-conspirator of Calderon, who lived in Springfield, Virginia, in doctoring stolen passports from the Micronesian embassy. Rivera, an immigrant, was charged for escorting holders of the altered Micronesian passports from the Philippines to the US via Hong Kong. He pleaded guilty in June to the charge that he helped smuggle more than 25 Filipino illegal aliens into the US through Newark Liberty International Airport, and implicated Calderon, who was indicted in May 2006. Rivera had said he escorted Filipinos into the US on stolen third-country passports between May 2005 and January 2006 on Continental Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Newark in New Jersey. Rivera said a doctored passport is sold at between $10, 000 (equivalent to P470, 000) to US$15,000 (P695, 000). Illegal immigrants often pay huge sums of money to human smugglers and endure harsh conditions just to be able to enter the US in the hope of finding good paying jobs, or to join other family members there. Travelers with Micronesian passports, unlike those from the Philippines, are not required to get visas from the United States to enter the country. Micronesia and the US have an agreement that allows holders of its passports to live and work in the US without having to secure a visit or work visa. Calderon and Rivera were charged in New Jersey because customs agents caught Rivera and three aliens he was escorting in January 2006 traveling with altered Micronesian passports. In the indictment sheet downloaded from the US Department of Justice website, Micronesia was simply referred to as “Country M." In the cases filed before the Supreme Court in Micronesia, it was indicated that Marehalau and Calderon conspired in the alleged illegal activities between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2006. Fletcher Poll, a certified fraud examiner who has been an investigator at the Office of the Federated States of Micronesia national public auditor for seven years, believed there is basis to “strongly suspect" that Marehalau and Calderon “committed the offenses charged" in the criminal information, the Kaselehlie Press reported. Polls had requested an arrest warrant for Calderon, who is serving time in a Federal Institution in New Jersey following his confession to US law enforcement officials in August 2006 that he doctored sample Micronesian passports in order to illegally smuggle more than 50 Filipinos into the US from December 2004 to January 2006. Calderon implicated Marehalau into the smuggling scheme, telling US law enforcement officials that the ambassador allowed him to take the sample Micronesian passports from a box kept in his office at the Micronesian embassy in Washington DC. He said Marehalau did not only know of the passport fraud scheme, but also approved of it and even offered his assistance. The report also said Calderon understated to Marehalau the number of Filipinos he has managed to smuggle into the US so that he could keep more of the proceeds from himself. He claimed to have given Marehalau US$1,000 for every smuggled person using Micronesian passport, and that he had given around $20,000 to $30,000 throughout the period he was engaged in the nefarious activity. According to Jaynes, auditors found a “large number of cash deposits, amounting to over $25,000, from December 2004 to December 2005" in Marehalau’s personal bank records from a Virginia bank. The deposits were neither from the former ambassador’s paycheck nor from reimbursements by the Micronesian government that he received for representation and other expenses. "The deposits stopped a few weeks before Calderon was arrested for Conspiracy and five counts of felony alien smuggling," Jaynes reported. Marehalau had denied all knowledge of the passport fraud scheme. However, he “could not account for the numerous cash deposits in his personal bank account." Although Marehalau initially stated that he kept the sample FSM passports obtained from American Banknote who prints the passports locked in his desk, he later recanted that statement and said that the sample FSM passports were kept on a table in his office, the report said. The charges also took note of “inappropriate relationship" between Marehalau and Calderon as shown in the audit of the embassy’s finances. Auditors said that while Calderon was hired as a driver of the embassy, Marehalau gave him responsibility over the books which were generally stacked in boxes with no organization. Under the charges, the situation resulted in fraud and theft and complicity between Marehalau and Calderon to defraud the Micronesian government of movable property and cash. According to the charges, Marehalau and Calderon “kept FSM Embassy financial matters almost entirely between themselves, and did not share these matters in any detail with other FSM Embassy staff or FSM Government officials." Embassy personnel said that they were often told that “the home office wasn’t sending payroll money," and so payroll was often late. Bills were delinquent including housing allowances for staff members. Landlords often called employees’ homes to tell them that rent was late, Jaynes reported. - GMANews.TV