AT a change of plea hearing before Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI, Huaishu Wang, represented by attorney Janet King, pled guilty to the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a federally controlled substance, and conspiracy to maintain drug-involved premises.
Wang is the third defendant accused of importing two pounds of methamphetamine through the U.S. Postal Service.
Judge Manglona found Wang fully competent to enter a knowing and informed plea and accepted the defendant’s plea of guilty.
The judge set Wang’s sentencing for Jan. 13, 2023, at 9 a.m. and ordered that the plea agreement be unsealed. The jury trial set for Nov. 15, 2022, was vacated.
At the hearing, Dennis Tse served as Wang’s interpreter while Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. appeared for the federal government.
Wang’s co-defendants, Hongjie Li, and Yongbi Ni, have also pled guilty to the same charges.
Ni, represented by attorney Robert Torres, pled guilty on Sept. 23.
Li, through her attorney, David Banes, pled guilty on Oct. 11.
Their sentencing was also scheduled for Jan. 13.
It was in May when the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency executed a search warrant and seized drugs, money, and drug paraphernalia from the defendants at a drug den in Papago.
