Cheng, 28, formerly employed at Healing Stone Yu Yu Massage in Garapan, and Dong were arrested along with 22 others for trying to enter Guam illegally on a boat from Saipan.
On Feb. 17, the court will hold an evidentiary hearing on Cheng’s temporary “release” from the Department of Corrections on Jan. 8 so she could massage the governor.
Cheng was being held without bail on human smuggling charges.
On Tuesday, Fitial said in an interview with KSPN 2: “I never ordered my massage therapist to be brought to my house.”
Asked for comment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley said this “may be beyond the original purpose of the evidentiary hearing, but since it has been raised by the governor, it suggests the need to determine what exactly was said, and by whom, to determine how this led to the breach of Judge Alex Munson’s confinement order.”
Dong, who is represented by attorney Eric Smith, is facing a maximum statutory sentence of six months in prison and a maximum statutory fine of $5,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Schuler is prosecuting the case.
The CNMI Attorney General’s Office has yet to respond to Variety’s inquiry regarding representing Fitial in the evidentiary hearing.
When asked about the impact of “massage-gate” on the CNMI’s tourism industry and the local masseuse business, Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Perry John P. Tenorio declined to comment.
The CNMI Bar Association, for its part, said: “After due consideration of the matter, the…association deems that it is not appropriate for the association to take a position regarding a pending case. We have confidence in the judicial and the political processes to deal with this matter.”
