By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
A WOMAN accused of using two falsified U.S. permanent resident cards to travel from Saipan to Hawaii will plead guilty after the federal court converted her upcoming preliminary hearing into an arraignment and change‑of‑plea proceeding.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted the U.S. government’s motion to set the matter for a change‑of‑plea hearing, noting that prosecutors and the defense have executed a plea agreement and that an information and plea agreement have already been filed, according to a Feb. 6 order from the District Court for the NMI.
The order converts the previously scheduled Feb. 11 preliminary examination into an arraignment and change‑of‑plea hearing at 1:30 p.m., with an in‑chambers conference for counsel set for 1:15 p.m. The plea agreement remains sealed.
Lorna R. Maramba was arrested after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers reported that she presented two fraudulent permanent resident cards during an outbound inspection at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport on Jan. 21, according to a federal complaint.
Maramba is charged with one count of possessing “an identification document or a false identification document with the intent to defraud the United States,” a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(4).
She was formally charged and arrested on Jan. 27 and appeared before Chief Judge Manglona the next day for her initial hearing while in U.S. Marshals Service custody. At the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley, a detention hearing was held on Jan. 30. Chief Judge Manglona released Maramba on a $1,000 unsecured bond with conditions. She is represented by court‑appointed attorney Richard Miller.
According to an affidavit filed by Homeland Security Investigations, Maramba, a Philippine national, initially claimed she was a lawful permanent resident and presented two laminated cards — one black‑and‑white and one in color — each containing different biographical information, mismatched USCIS numbers, and distorted or blurred images. Record checks showed she had no legal immigration status and had overstayed her last CNMI‑Only Transitional Worker visa, which expired in 2020.
Investigators said Maramba later admitted the cards were fake and told them she paid $2,000 to a man she met on Facebook who claimed to be a U.S. immigration officer. She said she hoped to reach Hawaii to find work and acknowledged she was unlawfully present in the CNMI.
Maramba also told investigators she is an accountant and had previously prepared her own CW‑1 applications. She said she sought employment in Hawaii because of the difficulty of finding work on Saipan.
The arraignment and change‑of‑plea hearing are scheduled for Feb. 11.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
