William Abraczinkas, left, is escorted by a Corrections officer to a courtroom for a bail hearing on Friday.
A JUDICIAL employee has accused a law clerk of sexually assaulting her at an apartment unit in Garapan on April 8, 2023.
The defendant, William Abraczinkas, appeared in the custody of the Department of Corrections before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Friday for a bail hearing.
Abraczinkas, 34, who is Judge Kenneth L. Govendo’s law clerk, has been charged with sexual assault in the first degree, assault and battery, and disturbing the peace,
Judge Camacho found Abraczinkas’ current income over the threshold for an appointment of a public defender.
At the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Frances Demapan read the charges against Abraczinkas and informed the court that although the defendant is under custody, he is still under contract with the judiciary and will continue to receive his monthly income.
Judge Camacho imposed a $100,0000 cash bail on Abraczinkas and directed him to seek his own representation.
Abraczinkas was remanded to the custody of Corrections, and was ordered to return to court for a preliminary hearing on June 26 at 10 a.m. and for an arraignment on July 3 at 9 a.m.
According to the complaint against Abraczinkas, on Friday, May 26, 2023, police received a walk-in complaint from a judicial employee accusing her coworker, Abraczinkas, of sexually assaulting her on April 8, 2023, at Beach Garden Apartment.
She told investigators that she learned that Abraczinkas filed a sexual harassment complaint against her with the judiciary’s human resources office.
After meeting with HR and informing her supervisor about the sexual assault, she said she found the courage to come to the Department of Public Safety and tell her side of the incident.
She told investigators that she assisted Abraczinkas’ transition from Las Vegas to the CNMI to work as a law clerk for Judge Govendo. She said they became good friends throughout the process, and she even used her mailing address to receive some of his personal belongings.
She said she called Abraczinkas about mail addressed to him and agreed to drop the mail at his apartment. She said when she entered the apartment, Abraczinkas was drinking vodka and diet soda and had asked her to stay and swim with him in the pool.
Later, after Abraczinkas gave her a bathing suit to swim in, she gave in and decided to swim with him but was chased out by the employee of the apartment because the pool was not part of the apartment contract that he signed.
At this point, she said Abraczinkas became angry, aggressive and inconsiderate of the situation.
She said she asked him if he wanted to swim at the beach instead. She said they then went to Chalan Kanoa beach. Soon, they were laughing, and she took this as a sign of a change of mood for him. After swimming they decided to head back to his apartment to shower and have dinner together.
She said Abraczinkas took a shower first and she showered after he was done, but regretted not taking her clothes into the bathroom so she would not walk out of the bathroom with only a towel, but she did.
As she was going to change to her dry clothes in the guest room, she said she saw Abraczinkas standing behind a corner wall naked.
She said he yanked the towel covering her and told her that he wanted her.
She said she angrily told him, “What the f##! are you doing?”
She said she froze because she could not believe what was happening. She then turned as fast as she could to go into the guestroom, but she said Abraczinkas held onto her shoulders and led her toward the living room.
She said she tried to swing her arms to be released but he held both her arms and held them so tight that she felt pain.
She said she begged him not to do anything and told him that she did not want to have sex with him.
She said she attempted to push him away so she could run and scream for help, but he was strong and pushed her back and she fell onto the futon lying in the living room. When she tried to sit up and crawl away, she said Abraczinkas put his weight on top of her and held her down with both hands on each of her elbows in a kneeling position where both her legs were in between his legs.
She said she told him to get off her, but Abraczinkas started molesting and touching her inappropriately without her consent. She said she begged him not to hurt her.
She said she felt so exhausted and lacked strength and power to move him away from her. Next thing she knew, she added, he was sexually assaulting her.
She said she tried to force herself away from him by sliding out to her left, but Abraczinkas blocked her again and pushed himself into her with such force that she thought he was going to kill her for moving.
She told the police that she gave up and let him do what he wanted to do with her.
The victim said Abraczinkas fell asleep on top of her before she was able to push him to the side and ran to the guest room and changed into dry clothes.
She said she didn’t tell anyone about the incident because she didn’t want to hamper Judge Govendo’s court operations and draw negative attention to the court.
