Christa Nafstad Toribiong
CHRISTA Nafstad Toribiong, the American wife of former Palau President Johnson Toribiong, was arrested Monday afternoon at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport on an active arrest warrant in Texas.
Assistant Chief of Police Simon Manacop on Tuesday said criminal charges had been filed against Mrs. Toribiong “by Grayson County, in the State of Texas.”
“Mrs. Toribiong had arrived at the Saipan…airport yesterday afternoon where it was later discovered that she has an active arrest warrant issued for the criminal charge of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon – Firearms,” Manacop added.
“Mrs. Toribiong is currently being detained at the Department of Corrections. The DPS-Criminal Investigation Bureau is currently working on detaining her further for being a fugitive from justice,” Manacop said.
But he said he was also informed that Texas “will not extradite outside the 50 U.S. states,” adding that “she will be released.”
A former assistant attorney general of Palau, Mrs. Torbiong earlier sued Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. in a federal court in Texas for banning her from returning to Palau.
The Palau government listed her as an undesirable alien in 2022.
The U.S. Department of Justice, for its part, has asked the court to dismiss the case because Whipps “enjoys head of state immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts [and] is entitled to immunity from the jurisdiction of this Court over this suit.”
Mrs. Toribiong then filed a voluntary dismissal of her lawsuit, which the Texas Eastern District Court granted. The court dismissed her complaint without prejudice, which means she can refile it.
On Nov. 14, 2024, representing herself, Mrs. Toribiong filed in the CNMI Superior Court a complaint for divorce against her husband, John Toribiong.
