THREE of the four defendants charged in Superior Court with misconduct in public office have pleaded not guilty to accusations of unauthorized lump-sum payments for accrued annual leave involving Saipan Mayor’s Office accounts.
Assistant Attorney General Olga Kelley filed information in Superior Court charging four individuals — Henry Sablan Hofschneider, Larissa Sablan Flores, Teresita Borja Camacho, and Eloida Dela Cruz Macaranas — with misconduct in public office.
At Monday’s arraignment before Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja, Hofschneider and Macaranas, through their attorneys, entered pleas of not guilty.
Macaranas’s attorney, Robert T. Torres, told reporters that his client was performing routine payroll duties.
“There’s the presumption of innocence,” Torres said. “We absolutely challenge the charges on behalf of my client… an employee of over 47 years in the Department of Finance.”
Torres added that his client’s role as a payroll supervisor is to pay out annual leave and other disbursements to employees who have earned them. “There are going to be a lot of questions that the government will have to answer in this case,” he said.
Hofschneider’s attorney, Bruce Berline, declined to comment.
Last week, Flores, through attorney Colin Thompson, also pleaded not guilty to the charges.
As for Camacho, Kelley told the court that she is currently off-island and has yet to be served with the complaint and penal summons.
Hofschneider and Flores were each charged with one count of misconduct in public office.
While serving as special assistant and administrative manager, respectively, to former Saipan mayor and then-Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, Hofschneider and Flores were accused of appropriating $98,379.65 for personal use from the Office of the Mayor of Saipan account between May 19 and June 28, 2023 — without the mayor’s expenditure authorization or approval.
Camacho was charged with two counts of misconduct in public office.
While serving as a budget officer in the Saipan Mayor’s Office, Camacho was accused of appropriating $38,279.53 for personal use from the mayor’s office accounts without approval between June 2 and June 28, 2023. She was also accused of neglecting her duty by failing to notify the mayor and the human resources manager about the misappropriation of funds.
Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a $50,000 fine.
Flores was also charged with one count of possession or removal of government property, punishable by up to six months in prison. She is accused of removing personnel files of former employees from the Saipan Mayor’s Office.
Macaranas, who served as a payroll manager at the Department of Finance, was accused of processing unauthorized payments totaling $98,379.65. She faces a maximum of two years’ imprisonment and a $1,500 fine.
In August 2023, Apatang’s successor as Saipan mayor, Ramon “RB” Camacho, filed a complaint about the missing funds and personnel files, stating that the lump-sum payments were disbursed without his knowledge or authorization.
The Office of the Attorney General’s prosecutor Olga Kelley, right, confers with defense attorneys Bruce Berline and Robert Torres outside the courtroom before Monday’s arraignment.
Eloida Dela Cruz Macaranas
Henry Hofschneider and some family members wait outside the courtroom before Monday’s arraignment.