Superior Court associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Vicente Q. Falig to five years imprisonment, all suspended except for 15 months, with credit for time served in jail from Dec. 29, 2007 to Jan. 1, 2008.
Wiseman also ordered him to pay a fine of $2,000 and $150 assessment fee, and render 200 hours community service.
The defendant must obtain recommended treatment, seek and maintain full time employment, obtain random drug screening, abstain from possession or consumption of alcohol.
He is prohibited from leaving the CNMI and has to comply with all federal and CNMI laws.
Falig was charged with one count of trafficking of a controlled substance, one count of illegal possession of controlled substance, one count of trafficking of a controlled substance and one count for illegal possession of controlled substance.
He entered into a plea agreement on May 8, 2008, wishing to resolve the offenses charged by a non-trial disposition.
He pleaded guilty to the charges of possession of a controlled substance.
The commonwealth agreed to dismiss all the other counts but in exchange the defendant was subjected to several conditions.
In his affidavit, Norman S. Rasiang of the Drug Enforcement Administration said that on Aug, 22, 2007, a cooperating source tipped police officers that the defendant was selling “ice” which he got from a supplier in Tanapag.
The cooperating source told police that the defendant had offered to sell him “ice.”
Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Naraja authorized a search warrant on Aug. 23, 2007. On the same day, the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force and the DEA/CNMI Task Force conducted a drug buy-walk operation using the cooperating source to purchase the “ice” from Falig.
The source was given $200 marked money to purchase the “ice” from Falig and the two met at an agreed location to conduct the transaction.
The following day, the cooperating source was again given $100 to buy white crystalline substance which later tested presumptive positive for the presence of methamphetamines from the defendant using marked money.
