By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
NORES S. Langu, 66, will serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty to directing another man to sexually assault his sleeping common‑law wife, according to a judgment issued by Superior Court Presiding Judge Joseph N. Camacho.
Langu appeared in custody on June 10 for a change‑of‑plea hearing, represented by court‑appointed attorney Richard Miller, while Assistant Attorney General Frances Demapan represented the Commonwealth.
According to the judgment, Langu admitted that on Sept. 27, 2025, he removed the victim’s pants while she slept and instructed co‑defendant Mariano Q. Falig Jr. “to take his clothes off, get on top of the victim, and engage in genital contact with her without her consent.”
Investigators later interviewed the woman, who said she awoke on Sept. 27 to find Falig on top of her while Langu was in the same room. She told police she initially believed the man on top of her was Langu, but realized otherwise when she heard Langu’s voice from the side of the bed. She said she jumped up, confronted him, and ran out of the room crying. While calling police, she saw that the man in the room was Falig.
Falig has been charged with first‑degree sexual assault, assault and battery, and disturbing the peace.
Langu pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault as a principal under 6 CMC § 1302(a)(1) and 201. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining counts with prejudice.
Judge Camacho imposed the statutory maximum of 15 years, ordering the first seven years to be served without eligibility for parole, early release, work release, or any other release program. The remaining eight years were suspended. Langu received 233 days of credit for time served.
Upon release, he will serve 10 years of supervised probation, must register as a sex offender within one business day, and is barred from contacting the victim. He must also complete counseling and comply with drug‑testing requirements.
As part of the plea agreement, Langu agreed to testify against Falig if the co‑defendant’s case proceeds to trial.
The judgment was filed June 11, 2026.
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.
