SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has ordered the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division and the Public Defender’s Office to explain why the court should accept the plea agreement in the rape case against John Timothy Villasis Vergara.
Judge Camacho raised three issues:
1) The alleged victim is a 13-year-old minor. The plea agreement indicates that the alleged victim has been contacted as to the terms of the plea agreement. Because the victim is a minor, the court wants to know if the parents of the alleged victim have been informed about the terms of the plea agreement and what is the parents’ position regarding the terms of the plea agreement?
2) The factual basis of the plea agreement indicates grounds for 6 CMC §1308(a)(1) and requires a mandatory sentence — 6 CMC §1308(b).
3) As the factual basis contains language of a sexual nature, the plea agreement appears to not contain a condition for the defendant to register as a sex offender.
The judge directed the parties to file a written response on or before Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, explaining why the court should accept the plea agreement.
In June 2021, Vergara was arrested on the charge of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl inside the restroom of Jesus is Lord Church. He was 18 at the time of the arrest, and initially was charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree and sexual assault in the first degree.
On Dec. 13, 2021, the AG’s office requested to amend the information or charging document, dropping all serious sex offenses. This was granted by the court.
Vergara, 19, is now only charged with one count of assault & battery.
According to the amended information, “On or about June 2, 2021, on Saipan…the defendant, John Timothy Vergara, did unlawfully engage in sexual contact with a minor…in violation of 6 CMC § 1202(a). This offense is punishable by 6 CMC §§ 1202(b), and 4101(c), with a maximum sentence up to one…year and $1,000 fine, or both.”
According to the plea agreement submitted to the court for its approval, Vergara will serve one year imprisonment sentence all suspended except four days. He was also given credit for four days which means he will not spend an additional jail time.
But he will be placed on two years probation once the court accepts the plea agreement.
The plea agreement was signed by Vergara, his lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jean Pierre Nogues, Assistant Attorney General James Houston who represented the government, and victim advocate Dixie Camacho.
A change of plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022 at 10 a.m.
Vergara is currently under the custody of a third-party custodian, his mother.
According to court documents, Vergara initially was charged for an incident that allegedly happened at Micro Beach in August 2020, and another incident that allegedly happened in the restroom of the Jesus is Lord Church on June 2, 2021.
The first incident, which happened in August 2020, was reported to the Commonwealth Health Center on Jan. 25, 2021.
During an interview with Dr. Heather Taylor, the victim, who was then 12 years old, wrote on a paper that when they were celebrating her brother’s birthday at Micro Beach, she went into the ocean with Vergara, the son of her mother’s friend.
The victim said Vergara sexually assaulted her.
Court documents did not state why Vergara, who was 17 at the time, was not charged for the first incident.
As for the second incident, it was the victim’s mother who told police that Vergara raped her daughter in the restroom of Jesus is Lord Church during a church anniversary practice.
