SHUO Qiu, also known as “Ike,” has pled guilty to drug trafficking, firearms possession, and bribing a public official in federal court on Wednesday.
At the change of plea hearing, Qiu was represented by attorneys Robert Torres and Charity Hodson.
Qui in CR 22-00001 entered a guilty plea to counts 1 and 2 of the amended indictment charging him with “Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & (b)(1)(C),” and “Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i).”
In CR 23-00004, Qui entered a guilty plea to counts 1 and 2 of the indictment charging him with one count of “Conspiracy to Bribe a Public Official, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 371,” and count two: “Bribery of a Public Official in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(1).”
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI accepted Qui’s guilty plea.
She vacated the jury trials and set Qui’s sentencing for July 14, at 9 a.m. An order of forfeiture will be issued against Qui, the judge added.
At the hearing, the federal government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Albert Flores and Ashley Kost.
Flores told the court that in CR 22-00001, count 3 would not be dismissed on Wednesday, but the U.S. government would make a motion to the court to dismiss count 3 (Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition by an Alien Unlawfully in the United States) after the sentencing.
On Jan. 12, 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, with the NMI 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.
Qui, 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.
Qui also said, “he has more local customers than anyone on island.”
As for the bribery case, an indictment issued on Feb. 2, 2023 accused a former Department of Corrections officer, Rainier Relado Deleon Guerrero, of receiving methamphetamine and $500 cash in exchange for smuggling a cell phone into prison.
Deleon Guerrero was charged with receiving bribes by a public official, and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
For their part, Qiu, also known as Ike, and Jiang Guang Zhang, aka Fat Brother, were charged with bribing a public official, and conspiracy to bribe a public official.
The case involved a conspiracy to smuggle a cellular phone with a charger into the Saipan prison for federal inmate Qiu in exchange for methamphetamine and $500 cash to be paid to Deleon Guerrero in January 2022.
