Wenliang Ma
WENLIANG Ma, who was charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, was a no-show at his jury trial in federal court, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Because the court has no information on the defendant’s whereabouts, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI excused the 53 potential jurors present.
U.S. Probation Officer Juanette David-Atalig reported that the last contact between Ma and U.S. Probation Officer Trina Duenas was on Dec. 20, 2024.
Attorney Mark Hanson, who was appointed to represent Ma in the proceedings, said he has no updated information regarding his client’s whereabouts.
Hanson previously told the court that his client had made arrangements for travel and housing during his trial.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores, Ma has applied for asylum and petitioned for an Employment Authorization Document with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Flores said he has no new information regarding Ma’s asylum or EAD petition.
He added that Homeland Security Investigations conducted a name check with United Airlines, but the defendant’s name did not appear on the Guam-to-Saipan manifest for the past five days.
Judge Manglona informed the parties that once the warrant is executed and returned, they will regroup.
Ma, a Chinese national, was indicted on Saipan along with seven others in October 2022 for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens. He was arrested in Guam on June 23, 2024, but no information has been given regarding the reason for his presence there.
On July 5, 2024, Ma, through his attorney, waived the reading of his rights and pled not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(l)(A)(v)(I)
According to the indictment, on or about July 29, 2022, “defendants pooled money together to purchase a boat for $32,000 on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands…. The boat, which is approximately 26 feet in length with a white fiberglass hull and motorized propeller, with CNMI boat registration number CM 0057 CP, was used by the eight defendants, and one additional Chinese citizen who did not have lawful immigration status, to complete transportation from the CNMI to Guam on or about July 31, 2022. A boat was used for transportation because the Chinese citizens wanted to avoid immigration processes that were anticipated if travel was completed by commercial airplane. Authorities located the boat in the Hagåtña Boat Basin in Guam after it came ashore to Guam from the CNMI with all nine Chinese citizens on July 31, 2022.”
Ma’s co-defendants were Xiaojuan Sun, Suling Jin, Shougao Liu, Liangxian Zhang, Weifu Zhang, Xiaohui Zhu, and Bingxing Gao.
According to the indictment, these Chinese nationals are believed to have no valid U.S. visas.
Xiaojuan Sun pled guilty on Nov. 30, 2022; Weifu Zhang and Bingxing Gao, on Nov. 17, 2022; Suling Jin, on Nov. 28, 2022; and Liangxian Zhang, on Dec. 5, 2022.
On Jan. 24, 2023, Xiaojuan Sun, Suling Jin, Weifu Zhang, Bingxing Gao, Liangxian Zhang were sentenced to time served.
The five defendants were also placed on two years of supervised release and were ordered to pay a special assessment fee of $100.
In addition, they were required to perform 50 hours of community service in lieu of fine, but this requirement shall be waived if the defendants voluntarily depart within the time frame pursuant to the plea agreement.
No information was available regarding Shougao Liu and Xiaohui Zhu.
