Nick Masga Reyes and his wife leave the courtroom afternoon after a judge acquitted him of all charges.
Defense attorney Joaquin DLG Torres talks to Variety after the trial.
Parole Board Chairman Christoper Leon Guerrero smiles as he leaves the courtroom.
SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Thursday found Chief of Parole Nick Masga Reyes not guilty of four counts of forgery and one count of misconduct in public office.
The judge noted that during mid-to-late 2023, there was a lot of infighting, animosities and squabbling among Board of Parole members, parole staff and employees.
“Some board members wanted … Reyes to only have a 30-day contract; others wanted a 90-day contract. Some parole officers and staff did not like … Reyes and would have preferred if he was not the chief of parole,” the judge said.
Reyes was instructed to continue to report to work as his employment documents were being routed, the judge said. “There were several attempts to route … Reyes’ employment contract but due to lack of a signature, or board members not voting on his contract as it was not on the meeting agenda as well as other government inefficiencies, there were delays. As the delays continued, at some point, … Reyes brought up again the lack of a contract and not being paid to [Special Assistant for Administration] Oscar Babauta,” the judge said.
“SAA Babauta brought the issue up to Gov. Arnold Palacios. In that meeting Governor Palacios instructed and authorized SAA Babauta to do whatever is necessary to resolve the infighting, animosities, and squabbling at the Board of Parole and the lack of employment contract of the chief of parole,” the judge said.
“Pursuant to Governor Palacios’ instructions to take all necessary actions to resolve the infighting, animosities, and squabbling at the Board of Parole and the lack of an employment contract for … Reyes, in December 2023, a one-year contract came out of the Office of the Governor,” the judge said.
“No witness testified that he or she saw … Reyes change his employment contract from 30 days/90 days to a one-year contract. No witness testified that he or she was asked by … Reyes to change his employment contract from 30 days/90 days to a one-year contract,” the judge added.
He said there was no evidence that Reyes forged his one-year employment contract.
“In fact, [his] one-year contract is the result of the instructions of Governor Palacios to restore some continuity and stability to the Board of Parole, staff, and employees and resolve the issue of … Reyes reporting to work and had not received any compensation,” the judge said.
“As the charge of Misconduct in Public Office requires a finding of Forgery and because there was no Forgery there cannot be any Misconduct in Public Office,” the judge added.
30 days
In his testimony, Governor Palacios said in 2023 the Board of Parole prepared a memorandum for his signature to have several of its employees’ employment extended for 30 days.
Palacios said 30 days was too short a period for the employment contract to be routed for all the necessary signatures and verifications. He then recommended that 90 days would be a much more realistic timeline to renew employee contracts, which included Reyes’.
The governor said he learned that Reyes continued to report to work notwithstanding that his 30-day or 90-day contract was getting lost or delayed within the government bureaucracy.
He said Reyes brought up to him the lack of finality as to what should be done with his contract.
Palacios said he aired his frustration with the “untenable situation” of repeated short 30-day contracts in a meeting with his special assistant for administration, Oscar Babauta.
The governor said he told Babauta to “fix it. Either fire him [Reyes] or hire him [Reyes]. Either terminate his [Reyes’] contract or give him [Reyes] a one-year contract.”
Board of Parole member and former acting chair Lucinda Selepeo testified that she signed a memorandum asking the Governor to consider extending the employees’ employment contracts for 30 days.
“Some documents came back from the governor’s office with a notation of 90 days,” she said. According to Selepeo, she does not know who made the notation to change Reyes’ contract from 30 days and/or 90 days to one year.
Parole Officer Vincent Taitano testified that he brought a copy of Reyes’ employment contract to the governor’s office, and then to the Office of Personnel Management.
Taitano said he saw that the employment contract was for one year. He said he took a photo of the employment contract and shared it with his co-workers.
Taitano also admitted that he did not like Reyes because he, Taitano, had requested to take classes at Northern Marianas College during government time, but Reyes rejected his request. (Reyes later reconsidered and allowed Taitano to take NMC classes.)
Unpaid
It was Babauta who testified that around mid to late 2023, there was a lot of infighting and squabbling among Board of Parole members, management and staff.
He said it was brought to his attention, “several times,” that the board chair did not want to sign Reyes’ employment contract even though Reyes was instructed to keep coming to work.
Babauta said he told the governor that Reyes had been reporting to work but had not been paid.
He said the governor instructed and authorized him to resolve the infighting, animosities and squabbling at the board and to do what was necessary to ensure continuity and stability.
“Having Reyes continue as the chief of parole aligned with restoring continuity and stability to the BOP,” Babauta said.
The current board chairman, Christopher Leon Guerrero, testified about the actions taken by the former board to remove Reyes as chief of parole or not renew Reyes’ contract.
Department of Public Safety Acting Commissioner and former Board of Parole member Anthony Macaranas testified that he was present at the December 2023 board meeting that voted on and adopted Reyes’ one-year contract.
Reyes was represented by attorneys Joaquin Torres and Matthew Holley while the government was represented by Assistant Attorneys General James Kingman, Lucia Blanco-Maratita and David Karch.
Torres moved for a judgement of acquittal after the prosecution rested on Thursday afternoon. “Where is the intent of my client or the knowledge of the forgery?” Torres asked.
After the trial, Torres said: “I believe the court relied heavily on the testimony of Governor Palacios and SAA Babauta. They testified that they just wanted Reyes to continue doing his job, and I believe that the court relied on those testimonies. We didn’t even have to put forward our case in chief.”
The bench trial started on April 22.
According to the prosecution, Reyes forged a request for personnel action by changing the term of employment from 30 days to one year.
Reyes “completed, executed, authenticated, issued or transferred a writing that purported to be the act of another, to wit the Governor of the Commonwealth, who did not authorize the act,” the prosecution added.
The CNMI Board of Parole is now in the process of selecting a new acting chief of parole, Variety learned.
Separate case
In a separate case, the AG’s offic charged Reyes and Chuilian Fu, owner of F&S Corporation, with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and one count of theft by deception.
Both defendants pled not guilty.
According to the information filed by the OAG in Superior Court, on or about Oct. 4, 2022, on Saipan, “Nick Masga Reyes agreed with … Chuilian Fu, that one or both would engage in or solicit theft of property by deception, to wit, the construction of a patio at the Parole Office purported to be constructed by a tailoring company owned by Chuilian Fu’s F&S Corporation, in the amount of $9,997.80, but actually constructed by uncompensated labor performed by parolees under the direction of Nick Masga Reyes, made punishable by 6 CMC §1603.”
Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio has scheduled Reyes’ jury trial for June 3, 2024 at 9 a.m.
