By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
GISELLE Butalid, a former Public School System employee, and her mother, Clarissa Adlawan, were sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay more than $548,000 in restitution and forfeiture after Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona on May 6 finalized judgment in their school procurement fraud case.
Judge Manglona sentenced Butalid to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and a $200 special assessment. Adlawan, whom the court found to have played a larger role in the scheme, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and a $200 special assessment.
Both defendants were allowed to remain released pending self-surrender after the Federal Bureau of Prisons designates their facilities.
Butalid was represented by attorney Joey San Nicolas, while attorney Mark Scoggins represented Adlawan. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley appeared for the federal government.
The Final Order of Forfeiture holds the mother-daughter pair jointly and severally liable for losses suffered by the Public School System and the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs’ Child Care Development Fund. The ruling also orders the forfeiture of luxury goods seized during a search, with proceeds from any sale credited toward the judgment.
The case began when FBI agents arrested Butalid and Adlawan on charges of conspiracy, theft of federal funds, money laundering, and structuring financial transactions. According to the indictment, Butalid — then employed in PSS’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction — used her access to electronic signatures, vendor invoices, and grant funding data to forge documents and push fraudulent procurements through the system.
Prosecutors said Butalid and Adlawan used their company, One Legacy LLC, which was registered in January 2021, to submit fraudulent quotations and invoices for educational materials between October 2021 and August 2022. The company received payments for items that were never delivered or were falsely represented, with individual transactions ranging from $23,242.50 to $113,020.
Investigators said the pair laundered at least $262,788, bringing the case under federal jurisdiction because PSS received more than $10,000 in federal grants during that period.
The indictment also detailed how the defendants spent the proceeds on luxury travel and shopping, including purchases at Prada and Louis Vuitton stores in Guam and a stay at the Shangri-La Hotel in Manila. Prosecutors said the pair also withdrew more than $26,000 from ATMs in the Philippines through rapid, back-to-back transactions.
During the August search, agents seized more than 100 pieces of gold and silver jewelry, along with high-end watches, handbags, belts, wallets, shoes, and designer slides. Most of the items remain subject to forfeiture, except for a women’s Omega Constellation watch that the court ordered returned to Adlawan after the government did not oppose her motion.
A third-party claim involving some of the seized property remains unresolved.
Violeta M. Centeno and Wilfredo Ching of Enhance Pacific Corp., doing business as Perfectly Set, filed a $59,300 claim asserting that many of the confiscated jewelry pieces had been consigned to Adlawan for resale. According to the filing, Adlawan befriended Centeno, offered to act as a reseller, and left an unpaid balance supported by ledgers and postdated checks issued through One Legacy LLC.
The claimants argue Adlawan never established ownership of most of the seized items.
The federal court will continue ancillary proceedings to resolve the dispute, but Judge Manglona’s order makes the amended forfeiture judgment final as to both defendants.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
