Ivan Mereb
THE Office of the Attorney General has charged the former public information officer of the Rota Mayor’s Office, Ivan Takamine Mereb Jr., with 15 counts of forgery and one count of theft pertaining to checks he issued to himself and others.
Mereb is accused of forging the checks of the Rota Island Specialty Crop Association or RISCA, of which he is the president.
Asked for comment, Mereb, 38, confirmed that he received a penal summons to appear in Rota Superior Court on Feb. 23 at 9 a.m.
“For now…I can only say that I’m prepared to answer the charges against me…. Since 2022, when I met with the investigators from the AG’s office, I provided copies consisting of bank records and other documents they requested from me at that time. As I mentioned to the investigators, I had no ill intent nor did I have any gain in the charges brought against me. As the president of RISCA, my actions were my own. I stand ready to present myself in a court of law,” Mereb added.
According to the information filed against Mereb, he issued a RISCA check in the amount of $1,000 to himself on Sept. 8, 2021, on Rota “with the intent to defraud or injure the Commonwealth or the Rota Island Specialty Crop Association or with knowledge that he was facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated [when he] uttered a writing which [he] knew to be forged.”
Mereb is also accused of issuing RISCA checks in the total amount of $27,528 to himself from August to December 2021, “with the intent to defraud or injure the Commonwealth or the Rota Island Specialty Crop Association or with knowledge that he was facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated [when he] uttered a writing which [he] knew to be forged.”
The information also alleged that Mereb likewise issued RISCA checks in the total amount of $2,970
to Bepari Enterprises on Sept.9, 2021, Oct. 29, 2021, and on Dec. 3, 2021, “with the intent to defraud or injure the Commonwealth or the Rota Island Specialty Crop Association or with knowledge that he was facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated [when he] uttered a writing which [he] knew to be forged.”
Clerk of Court Patrick Diaz issued the penal summons on Feb.8, 2023.
“If you do not appear, an application may be made for the issuance of a warrant for your arrest,” Diaz told Mereb.
