NICANOR F. Norita, the administrator of the Estate of Visitacion Rangamar Flores, is accusing the different attorneys involved in the Mangabao Estate of “stealing” its money.
On Dec. 22, 2017, after more than 10 years of litigation, the Superior Court issued a decree of final distribution for the $19.3 million paid by the CNMI government to the heirs of the Estate of Maria Mangabao.
Maria Mangabao died intestate or without a will on Saipan in the early 1990s leaving three heirs who are all deceased: Ramona Rangamar, Visitacion Rangamar Flores, and Vicente Rangamar.
The court divided the land compensation funds into three equal shares for the three identified heirs who each received $5,335,216.
Representing himself, Norita on Monday filed a complaint in the District Court for the NMI, naming as defendants the former attorneys of the estates of the three heirs of the Estate of Mangabao, including the attorney who represented the Estate of Visitacion Rangamar Flores.
The lawyers are Michael Dotts, Ben Petersburg, Rosemond Santos, Timothy Bellas, and Brien Sers Nicolas.
Norita is alleging bribery and grand larceny, but provided no other additional information in his complaint.
The plaintiff also asked the court to waive the payment of fees for filing the complaint.
In November 2020, Associate Judge Joseph Norita Camacho issued a $100,000 bench warrant for the arrest of Norita for refusing to give the $1.3 million share to another heir of the Estate of Visitacion Flores.
Judge Camacho issued the bench warrant after Norita failed to appear for a status conference hearing even though a subpoena was issued for him to appear.
The judge noted that he was very familiar with Norita’s continued efforts to frustrate the court’s efforts in ensuring the distribution of the share of the Estate of Antonio R. Flores to its sole heir, Jacinto Taman Flores.
Judge Camacho ordered CNMI Marshals to go to Norita’s residence and retrieve from him the estate’s bank book. Should Norita refuse, the Marshals were instructed to take him into custody and to bring him to court.
The Marshals picked up Norita from his Chalan Kanoa residence and brought him before Judge Camacho.
He told the judge that there was a burglary at his home and among those stolen was a bag with the bank book.
Norita said that he went to the bank for a new passbook.
Judge Camacho then stated that Norita was no longer a signatory on how the disbursements of the fund would go.
