Manglona clears the record: She was a victim of prosecutorial misconduct
By Eric Rosario
There are two sides to every story. In criminal cases, sometimes the documents open to the public don't tell the entire truth, whether in theft cases, drug stings, or child support sagas.
This past weekend, Kandit exposed court records showing public health medical director Dr. Janna Manglona has a recent criminal past in the state of Ohio. We questioned whether the government of Guam knew about her plea to a misdemeanor nonsupport of dependents charge that followed an attempt by prosecutors in Ohio to extradite her from Saipan from a multi-year hunt for child support. We also asked whether the Guam Board of Medical Examiners was aware of the matter; and, if so, how she was able to keep her practice.
Today Dr. Manglona revealed the part of the story that doesn't appear in unsealed Ohio and Saipan court records. According to her, prosecutors chased her to exhaustion and ignored the fact that she, not her ex-husband, was the fit parent; and that she, not him, had cared for their children.
"Their father had six domestic violence convictions in two states and other alcohol-related charges," Dr. Manglona said to Kandit. "In 2003, when he was ordered to have no contact with me or my children, his claims for alimony and child support were not automatically canceled, hence the years of back and forth about entitlement to child support, alimony, and arrearages. In 2013 with a new judge in place, this issue was finally settled and the amounts reduced, 18 years after the start of the case."
The prosecutor in both her 2001 and 2013 cases had dogged her relentlessly despite the facts of her case; and in the end, she had him removed.
"I ran into a push back from the legal powers along the way, when I had the prosecutor removed from my case through my reports to the Ohio Disciplinary Council," Dr. Manglona said. "I also had the first judge and magistrate removed through my submissions to the Supreme Court. As you can imagine, it was a challenging time and a challenging case for me and my family."
Dr. Manglona persevered, despite the eventual conviction through her plea to simply end the saga. She was removed from probation by the Ohio court in 2018, but not after prosecutorial misconduct had dogged her and painted her as a mother, who abandoned her children.
"My children were not abandoned and were raised by my family and me, as their father was forbidden contact with any of us since 2003," Dr. Manglona said. "His parents and siblings ceased all communication with him as well. Although he was ordered to pay child support, he paid a total of $50. My children were actually with me at the Perry Inos hearing in Saipan that you mentioned and attended college in Saipan. My children were totally supported by me their entire lives including college and post-grad studies, as one of my daughters completed her doctorate and another is an attorney."
Sources say this matter was brought before the GBME twice, and both times the board found no misconduct on the part of Dr. Manglona, despite the public record that persists.
