POLICE OFFICERS INDICTED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested two CNMI narcotics
policemen yesterday at the Department of Public Safety's premises on
charges that they have been stealing seized evidence-money and illegal
drugs-and have engaged in drug peddling activities. The FBI also arrested
another man on Guam yesterday morning in connection with the charges.

The FBI collared police detectives Eric John Tudela Mafnas and Charley K.
Patris, both members of the DPS Special Investigation Section, in a case
that federal prosecutors consider as one of the worst corruption cases in
the Commonwealth. The criminal activities have allegedly jeopardized local
prosecution of drug cases.

The FBI tagged Mafnas as the organizer and leader of the criminal activity,
accusing the policeman of stealing from the DPS some 46 grams of
methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly referred to as "ice," on one occasion.

On Guam, the FBI also nabbed Carl Cabrera, who was charged for allegedly
conspiring with Mafnas and Patris in peddling ice, according to federal
prosecutor Patrick Smith.

The object of the alleged conspiracy was to sell the illegal drugs that
were stolen from the CNMI police department's evidence room, Smith said in
a news conference.

A 15-page indictment filed at Saipan's U.S. District Court accused the
policemen of seriously abusing their position to steal money and illegal
drugs from DPS custody several times.

"[Mafnas and Patris] identified and exploited weaknesses in DPS's controls
and procedures with respect to the custody of evidence and record-keeping
to both further and conceal their theft of property from DPS, including
property that had been seized from persons in the course of SIS
investigations. As Mafnas and Patris well knew, such weaknesses permitted
them to steal property from DPS with minimal risk of detection," the
indictment alleged.

The indictment accused the police officers of filing false and misleading
reports related to DPS investigations, causing DPS records to be false and
misleading. The indictment also accused the police officers of failing to
file required DPS reports on evidence seized, controlled buys and persons
arrested. Mafnas and Patris allegedly used for their own ends money
entrusted them by DPS and the CNMI Attorney General's Investigative Unit.

The indictment charged Mafnas and Patris with conspiracy to commit theft,
perjury and to make false statements, as well as theft concerning programs
receiving federal funds. Smith accused the policemen of embezzling
properties valued at over $5,000 from April 2002 through December 2003,
which were in the custody of the DPS, an agency that received more than
$10,000 in federal funds annually.

Smith also charged the three defendants with conspiracy to distribute and
possess with intent to distribute at least five grams of ice sometime in 2003.

He separately charged Mafnas with possession with intent to distribute
approximately 46 grams of ice, which the policeman allegedly stole from the
DPS evidence room sometime on May 13, 2003. The DPS earlier seized the ice
from suspected Japanese drug dealer Manabu Chizuwa, who was earlier
sentenced to at least seven years imprisonment by the federal court,
according to Smith. Local authorities also pursued criminal charges against
Chizuwa.

The indictment also charged Mafnas and Patris with a count each of false
statements and perjury for allegedly lying to the FBI and a federal jury in
December 2003 that a former CNMI assistant attorney general, Dan Wolfe,
authorized the destruction of the 46 grams of ice Mafnas took from the
evidence room. Mafnas claimed to have burned the ice, while Patris claimed
witnessing the burning of the evidence.

Allegations in the indictment further show that the police officers seized
some $2,350 in cash and approximately $300 worth of ice from a suspected
drug trafficker sometime on April 29, 2002. The following day, Mafnas
allegedly falsely told DPS correction officers that the drug dealer was a
Drug Enforcement Administration detainee, permitting him to have the
trafficker released the next day without creating an official DPS record of
the arrest. Mafnas and Patris allegedly pocketed the $2,530 that had been
seized from the suspect.

Sometime on Dec. 31, 2002, Mafnas allegedly failed to submit to the DPS
custodian evidence that had been seized during a vehicle stop. The evidence
allegedly included marijuana.

The indictment also accused Mafnas and Patris of pocketing some $3,220 that
had been seized from another suspected drug trafficker on Nov. 7, 2003.
Patris allegedly falsified a DPS report that both he and another SUS
officer had witnessed Mafnas counting the cash seized.

COPS DENY CHARGES

Both Mafnas and Patris denied the charges against them, pleading "not
guilty" to the charges during their respective arraignment in federal court
yesterday afternoon. Lawyer Brien Sers Nicholas assisted the two policemen
during their arraignment.

Chief Judge Alex R. Munson set the policemen's trial to begin on March 14.

Assistant U.S. attorney Timothy Moran, who appeared with Smith, asked the
judge not to release the policemen from custody, but Sers Nicholas assured
that the police officers would appear in court to face the charges against
them, insisting that they do not pose flight risks.

Munson granted the defendant's temporary release on unsecured bonds-$25,000
for Mafnas and $50,000 for Patris. The judge ordered the confiscation of
the police officers' travel documents.

The judge ordered that both defendants be placed on electronic monitoring
at their own expense. He imposed a curfew on Mafnas and Patris, who are
both required to stay at their respective homes from 6pm to 6am. Munson
allowed Mafnas, however, to accompany his father to the Commonwealth Health
Center's dialysis facility beyond his curfew hours if necessary.

Federal authorities would bring Cabrera to Saipan's federal court today,
following the defendant's arrest on Guam yesterday. Cabrera would be
arraigned on a charge of conspiracy to distribute some five grams of ice
sometime in 2003.