BONIFACIO “Boni” Sagana is requesting the federal court to allow him to self-surrender at the Federal Correctional Institution in Thompson, Illinois.
Sagana, through attorney Richard Miller, has asked the court to issue an order for him to self-surrender at FCI Thomson at such date and time as to be determined by the Bureau of Prisons’ Designation Section.
“Mr. Sagana further requests that the court recommend that BOP designate a date no sooner than 30 days from the date of this order, to give the family adequate time to make travel arrangements,” Miller added.
In Dec. 2023, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI sentenced Sagana to 24 months in prison for his involvement in a scheme to produce fraudulent CNMI driver’s licenses.
After serving his sentence, Sagana will be placed under three years supervised release. He is also ordered to perform 50 hours of community service in lieu of a fine and at the direction of the U.S. Probation Office.
The court has allowed Sagana to remain released.
According to Miller, U.S. Probation Officer Juanette David-Atalig has informed him that Sagana is in compliance with all terms and conditions of his release.
“Throughout the time that Mr. Sagana has been under pretrial supervision he has remained in compliance. Mr. Sagana wishes to self-surrender at FCI Thomson. Thompson is about a two-hour drive west from Chicago,” Miller said.
“Mr. Sagana’s family would arrange an airline ticket and ground transportation. Self-surrender would be at no cost to the government,” Miller added.
He said Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. has informed him that the U.S. government opposes self-surrender, “out of concern that Mr. Sagana might use his passport to flee the United States. But Mr. Sagana had the opportunity to flee once before and did not do so, when after his arrest in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 2022, he was released and allowed to travel unescorted to face trial in Saipan. Mr. Sagana has already given notice of appeal of his conviction and sentence to the Ninth Circuit. If he flees, he will forfeit his right to that appeal under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine.”
If that happens, Miller said, “his conviction will be final, he will be a fugitive from justice and will never be eligible for a waiver of inadmissibility to the United States, where all his children and grandchildren live.”
“Given his record of full compliance with the Court’s orders and the severe consequences if he fails to report to BOP as ordered,” Miller said, “the risk that Mr. Sagana’s request to self-surrender is part of a scheme to flee is extremely small. Moreover, any such risk can be further mitigated by requiring Mr. Sagana to submit his travel itinerary to the U.S. Marshal before the Probation Office releases his passport to him.”
Sagana earlier notified the federal court that he was appealing its judgment in his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Sagana, through Miller, said they would appeal all orders and rulings prior to, during and after trial.
On July 19, 2023, a jury found Sagana guilty of conspiring with Bernadita Zata in producing a fraudulent CNMI driver’s license.
Flores and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Kost prosecuted the case.
