SHUO Qiu, also known as “Ike,” will serve a total of 240 months or 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, firearm possession and bribing a former Corrections officer.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI on Thursday sentenced Qiu to a 180-month prison term for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and conspiracy to bribe an official and bribing an official, to run concurrently.
As for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, Qiu was sentenced to serve 60 months’ imprisonment.
The judge recommended to the Bureau of Prisons to have Qiu serve his sentence in a facility with a residential drug abuse program and mental health counseling.
Qiu will also be placed on three-year supervised release. In addition, he will perform 50 hours of community service and pay a $400 assessment fee.
Qiu was represented by attorneys Robert T. Torres and Charity Hodson while Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. appeared for the federal government.
Search warrant
On Jan. 12, 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, with the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force, executed a search warrant and seized 1.6 pounds of methamphetamine, an undetermined amount of cash, and two handguns with ammunition from Qiu in a hotel room where he was staying for the past six months.
Qiu was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Qiu, in a freely given statement to the DEA, and through an interpreter, stated that he was mainly supplied by two people who would give him between 100 grams and 500 grams, depending on how his sales had been.
Bribery
As for the bribery charge, the indictment issued on Feb. 2, 2023, stated that Qiu was involved in a conspiracy to smuggle a cellular phone with a charger into the Saipan prison for a federal inmate — Qiu — in exchange for methamphetamine and $500 cash to be paid to a Corrections officer in January 2022.
According to the indictment, Qiu solicited the assistance of Rainier Deleon Guerrero from inside the prison, and Deleon Guerrero relied upon his friend, “GG,” to coordinate with Qiu’s friend, Jiang Guang Zhang, aka Fat Brother, to facilitate the transaction.
GG allowed Deleon Guerrero to use GG’s phone to communicate with Zhang, and GG also communicated with Zhang on behalf of Deleon Guerrero, the indictment stated.
“GG helped coordinate the location, time, and manner in which Zhang delivered a cellular phone, methamphetamine, and $500 cash” to Deleon Guerrero, the indictment added.
After Zhang delivered methamphetamine and cash to Deleon Guerrero, “GG reaped the reward of facilitating the exchange by smoking some of the methamphetamine with…Deleon Guerrero,” the indictment stated.
In January 2022, Deleon Guerrero took the cellular phone and the phone charger provided by Zhang and delivered them to Qiu who was incarcerated at the Saipan prison, the indictment stated.
For his part, Deleon Guerrero was sentenced on Thursday to serve six months imprisonment, followed by six months home detention.
After serving his sentence he will be placed on three years of supervised release, perform 50 hours of community service, and pay a $200 assessment fee.
In April 2023, Deleon Guerrero pled guilty to receiving a bribe by a public official, and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
Attorney Bruce Berline represented Deleon Guerrero.
As of press time Monday, there was no information regarding the third defendant, Zhang.
