Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco Gatewood granted the motion of court-appointed defense attorney Anthony Long as Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly McCallum, the prosecutor, did not object.
Gatewood also granted Long’s request to file a motion for clarification or reconsideration regarding the court’s previous order, denying defense’s motion to dismiss the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Villegas, a former owner of the defunct Philippine Express Remittance.
Gatewood said the conspiracy charge filed against Villegas was timely, contrary to the defense’s argument that the charge was barred by statute of limitations.
The federal court still has to schedule the jury trial for Villegas and his wife. They have denied the charges.
In July 2010, the former manager of PNB Express Remittance Center pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. She has yet to be sentenced. She will testify in the jury trial.
Last April, Gatewood ordered a consolidated jury trial of the Villegas couple charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the more than $109,000 losses that the Philippine National Bank incurred when checks with insufficient funds were processed through its system.
