Atalig “has complied with the conditions of supervised release imposed by the order of the court and…the period of supervised release expired on March 23, 2011. I therefore recommend that he be discharged from supervised release and that the proceedings in this case be terminated,” Chief U.S. Probation Officer Rosanna Villagomez-Aguon wrote in her letter to the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
Atalig and then-Tinian Sen. Jose M. Dela Cruz connived with each other in employing their relatives as “ghost” or “no-show” employees.
In 2003, the two were charged in federal court with 26 counts of wire fraud charges. Atalig hired Dela Cruz’s daughter as community worker with an annual salary of $39,663.70 when in fact she was studying at the University of Guam at that time.
Dela Cruz’s daughter also received scholarship funds from the CNMI and Tinian scholarship programs.
Then-Federal Court Chief Judge Alex Munson sentenced Atalig to serve 63 months in prison, concurrently, for his offenses. He was also told to restitute the CNMI government $39,663.70 and pay a fine of $10,000.
Additionally, Atalig was placed on supervised release for 36 months which ended in March.
Dela Cruz was also convicted and was sentenced to a two-year term in federal prison.
