THE federal court has sentenced Svetlana M. Maala to one-year probation after she admitted forging a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notice form.
At a hearing on Friday, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI also imposed a $100 special assessment fee on the defendant who will remain released, but her passport will be forwarded to U.S. immigration authorities.
Maala was represented by court-appointed attorney Colin Thompson while Assistant U.S. Attorney Garth Backe appeared for the federal government.
In April 2021, as part of a plea agreement, Maala pled guilty to one count of fraud and misuse of visa charge.
According to the plea agreement, Maala, a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, on or about June 7, 2018, knowingly counterfeited and altered a form 1-797 by sending another individual’s form 1-797 to a second individual in the Philippines, and requested that it be photoshopped to show that it belonged to her.
“Defendant did so, knowing that the form 1-797 was not hers and intending to use it as proof of her eligibility to stay and work in the U.S.,” the plea agreement stated.
According to the U.S. government, the charge against the defendant carries a maximum penalty of not more than 10 years imprisonment; a fine not to exceed $250,000; not more than a three-year term of supervised release; and a $100 special penal assessment.
With the defendant signing the plea agreement, the U.S. government agreed not to file additional charges against her.
