By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

FORMER Guam Public School System employee Frankie Agustin and four public school teachers were back in court yesterday to plead not guilty to the criminal charges filed against them in connection with a teachers test certification scam.
A grand jury indictment was re-filed against Agustin, who was charged with receiving a bribe and tampering with public records.
Teachers Merlinda Reyes, Lily Torres, Lisa D. Davis and Juanito E. Nuevo were charged with theft by deception for bribing the GPSS certification officer to secure teaching positions.
Agustin was indicted separately with Thelma Catunao, Cristeta Robles, Teojila Amistad and Lily Munoz on the same offense.
Catunao, Robles, Amistad and Munoz were also indicted on theft by deception charges.
Except for Agustin, Reyes, Nuevo, Davis and Torres, through their respective lawyers, asked for a speedy trial and a jury trial of 12.
Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo set a pre-trial conference for March 20 at 11 a.m.
Agustin and the four teachers were released on their own personal recognizance but were required to call the court probation office at least once a week and report once a month.
The case against the nine public school teachers was originally filed in 2005 after an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and the Guam Police Department.
Armed with a warrant, police and AGO personnel searched and seized documents and records of the GPSS personnel office in Hagatna.
For a month, prosecutors scrutinized the personnel records and discovered a number of public school teachers’ tests which were tampered with.
However, the first indictment was dismissed by Judge Bordallo after the government prosecutor failed to provide exculpatory information to the grand jury.
In the original indictment, Agustin, who was responsible for giving and grading the Guam Educators Test of Proficiency, was charged with six counts of receiving a bribe as a third- degree felony and nine counts of tampering with public records as a third-degree felony and official misconduct.
The school teachers were charged with guilt by complicity after bribing Agustin to change incorrect answers on their test to correct answers so that they would pass the test and receive certification to teach.