SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Wednesday accepted the plea agreement — as amended for the third time — in the case against John Timothy Villasis Vergara, 19, who was initially charged with raping a then-13-year-old girl.
“The third plea agreement limits the court to consider only the crime of disturbing the peace,” the judge stated.
He also noted that the victim’s father is in the Philippines and the victim and her mother were given the opportunity to come to the hearing but chose not to.
The Office of the Attorney General informed the court that the victim and her mother concur with the terms of the plea agreement and both wanted the case closed as quickly as possible so they could move on with their lives, the judge said.
“The victim and her mother did not want the case to go to trial as it will only add and further traumatize the victim and her family,” he added.
Following the court order, Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds, in a statement, said, “The [Office of the] AG is glad that there has been a resolution in this case for the sake of the victim and her family.”
Hinds added, “Our office takes the concerns of the court seriously. The judge expressed concern about whether the victim’s parents were informed. The Victim’s Bill of Rights as outlined in 9 CMC § 9104, requires that the Attorney General’s Office make efforts to ‘see that victims of crime are accorded rights.’ Two of those enumerated rights are that the victim has a right to ‘confer with the attorney for the government in their case,’ and the ‘right to information about the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, and release of the offender.’ Naturally that includes plea agreements,” Hinds said.
The practice of the Office of the AG’s Criminal Division is to provide victims with those rights, he added. “As a result, the Attorney General’s Office regularly speaks to the victims and the parents of minor victims regarding plea agreements.”
“In this case,” he said, “the Commonwealth through its victims’ advocate and the assistant attorney general did in fact speak with both the victim and her mother regarding the plea agreement. The father is not available. As noted by the court both the victim and her mother assented to the plea agreement.”
The judge also raised a valid concern regarding registration requirements, the chief prosecutor said.
“As noted above, through consultation with the victim and mother, it was determined that in this specific case, with its specific circumstances, amending the information and plea agreement was the best course of action to find balance between the concerns expressed by the court and the interests of the victim,” Hinds said.
Vergara, who is represented by Assistant Public Defender Jean Pierre Nogues, pled guilty to the charge of “disturbing the peace.”
According to court documents, “On or about June 2, 2021, on Saipan…the defendant…did willfully and reasonably annoy or disturb [the victim] depriving her of her rights to peace and quiet, to wit: Defendant engaged in unwelcome physical contact with [her] at or near the women’s restroom, in violation of 6 CMC §3101(b) and 4101(d).”
After accepting the plea agreement, the judge sentenced Vergara to six months’ imprisonment but all suspended, except the first four days, to be served day for day without the possibility of parole, probation, early release, work release, weekend release, or other similar program with four days’ credit for time served, which means that Vergara will not serve additional jail time.
“The remaining sentence is suspended and may be imposed in whole or in part for violation of law or Office of the Adult Probation rules,” the judge said.
Vergara will also be placed on two years’ probation, and will undergo Community Guidance Center evaluation.
The court order did not require Vergara to register as a sex offender.
In June 2021, he was arrested after he was accused 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 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 the serious sex offenses, which the court granted.
Vergara was charged with one count of assault and battery, which was eventually dropped following his guilty plea to the charge of disturbing the peace.
