Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Govendo yesterday lowered to $500 cash the original $5,000 bail order. He allowed the remaining $4,500 to be posted as an unsecured bond and directed the defendant to surrender her passport.
Assistant Attorney General Tiberius Mocanu represented the government during the initial appearance and bail hearing while the court appointed Assistant Public Defender Benjamin Petersburg as counsel for Berganio.
Detective Alexander Sakisat said the victim filed a complaint on Nov. 3, 2011.
Police said the victim’s husband met Berganio sometime last May. Berganio asked if he needed assistance for his wife’s application as a permanent resident.
Berganio, who is unemployed, initially received $300 from the victim, the wife, for the processing of the application, police said.
The following month, the couple brought Berganio to the U.S. Postal Office in Chalan Kanoa to purchase money order worth $1,700 as payment for the permanent residence application.
When the postal office staffer asked where the money order would be sent, Berganio offered to bring the money order form and fill it out at her residence, police said.
Berganio asked for another $20 from the victim at her workplace after the defendant presented the purported money order form which was filled out.
She said the additional money was for the fee to send the money order.
Berganio told the victim to wait for two to three weeks for the arrival of the document through mail.
In Nov. 2010, the victim inquired with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services application support center on Saipan and was told that the Hawaii office never received any application for permanent residence from the victim.
