WENLIANG Ma, a Chinese national indicted with seven others in October 2022 for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, was arrested on Guam on June 23, 2024.
At an arraignment before Magistrate Judge Heather Kennedy of the District Court for the NMI on Friday, July 5, Ma appeared via videoconference and through his court-appointed attorney, Mark Hanson, 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).
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Petersburg appeared for the federal government.
After Ma pled not guilty, Judge Kennedy scheduled a jury trial for Sept. 10 at 10 a.m.
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 accused of illegally entering Guam by boat are believed to have no valid U.S. visas.
Xiaojuan Sun pled guilty on Nov. 30, 2022; Weifu Zhang and Bingxing Gao pled guilty on Nov. 17, 2022; Suling Jin pled guilty on Nov. 28, 2022; and Liangxian Zhang pled guilty 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 released, 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.
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 (CNMI). 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.”
