Visiting federal Judge Mark W. Bennett of the Northern District of Iowa denied the motion of Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Schuler to detain Miah.
The defendant will be out on bail until his sentencing.
Miah, who is represented by court-appointed attorney David Banes, faces a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the NMI Alicia Limtiaco.
Last January, an indictment charged Miah and co-defendants Dolores Tahira Miah, former Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles examiner William A. Hocog, Hongmei Sun and Hui Qiang Yan, also known as Hui Chang, with violations of identification document fraud for their participation in producing and transferring fraudulently obtained CNMI driver’s licenses.
Last June, Mrs. Miah admitted the charge of unlawful possession of an identification document, while Hocog, Sun and Yan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to unlawfully produce and transfer CNMI driver’s licenses.
Mr. Miah’s co-defendants will be sentenced in October.
Limtiaco said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency within the United States Department of Homeland Security conducted the investigation, “with significant assistance from the CNMI Department of Public Safety.”
