By Jacob Nakamura
(Tumon, Guam) The Chinese government is growing impatient with Gov. Ralph Torres. People's Republic of China Consul General Zhang Ping in Los Angeles wrote to Mr. Torres on January 9, 2020 asking him about his administration's lack of action on the unsolved murders and disappearance of seven Chinese nationals in Saipan.
Mr. Ping told Mr. Torres the Chinese government is ready to assist U.S. law enforcement "in an effort to solve these cases as early as possible." Copied on the letter are the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of State, and the CNMI office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Five of the seven murders and disappearance occurred while Mr. Torres was either the governor or the lieutenant governor. The Chinese government has continuously brought up the lack of progress in these investigations by the Department of Public Safety throughout Mr. Torres's term in office. "Over the past few years, during each consular visit to CNMI, our consular officials have brought up the cases with the directors of DPS," Mr. Ping wrote to Mr. Torres. "However, years have passed, still no significant progress of investigation has been made."
Contrary to government reports of speculation that Chinese nationals would enter Saipan to carry out the killings of its citizens living in Saipan, Mr. Ping places the onus on Mr. Torres's administration, demanding that justice can be achieved by local investigations done properly.
"These brutal crimes have received widespread attention from the media and general public and brought tremendous pain and suffering to the victims' families in China," Mr. Ping wrote. "They have been continuously asking for justice."
Mr. Ping named each Chinese national who was brutally murdered, and the one who went missing and is believed to have been killed:
Case of Yang, Junli & Liu, Jing
Date of Case: 12/06/2012
The above two are a couple. They were cuffed and shot to death in their residence on December 6, 2012.
Case of Zheng, Qingxiu & Xu, Guohuang
Date of Case: 02/23/2014
The above two are a couple. They were burned to death in their residence on Feb. 23, 2014.
Case of Li, Hairen & Li, Chengyou
Date of Case: 11/01/2014
The above two are brothers. They were hacked to death on their farm on Nov. 1, 2014. Their bodies were burned and abandoned in a remote forest.
Case of Li, Zhiyong
Date of Case: 01/20/2015
Li was reported missing on Jan. 20, 2015 and remain unaccounted till today. Li is a relative of the above-mentioned brothers Li, Hairen & Li, Chengyou, and is believed to have been killed.
"Since the happening of these cases, the Consulate has been in constant contact with the Department of Public Safety, CNMI, expressing concerns over the safety of Chinese nationals in Saipan and asking for speedy investigations to bring justice to the victims," Mr. Ping wrote to Mr. Torres.
Mr. Ping expressed his hope that Mr. Torres personally will get to the bottom of the stalled progress of these investigations, "and direct the relevant agencies to carry out the investigations with all the necessary resources and measure."
Unsolved murders in the CNMI throughout Gov. Torres's tenure include more than just Chinese nationals, however. The murder investigation of Allan Boyer Dela Cruz still has gone nowhere. In 2019 alone, the CNMI registered 10 unsolved murders and deaths.
Recently, one Korean and one Chinese national were found murdered in Saipan.
Kandit this week reported the case of a former DPS employee, who filed criminal complaints against Commissioner Robert Guerrero regarding sexual assault, harassment, conspiracy, cover up, and other crimes to the Governor's Office and the Office of the Attorney General. Nothing has been done with these matters, which were initially investigated by former DPS commissioner James Deleon Guerrero. The murders of the Chinese nationals referred to in the Ping letter occurred during his tenure at DPS.
Mr. Deleon Guerrero was arrested in 2016 for sexually assaulting a then-15 year old girl inside a pickup truck in 2013 while he was police commissioner. Judge Joseph James Norita Camacho dismissed the case, even with Mr. Deleon Guerrero's statement acknowledging his crime.
The investigations into and prosecutions of those responsible for these murders has fallen on Attorney General Edward Manibusan during his tenure as the AG. The current legislative oversight chairman of the OAG is Mr. Manibusan's son-in-law, Congressman Joel Camacho.
The Chinese crime organizations have "company" guns for their use in Saipan.
By the way, the people carrying out the killings are more often than not themselves victims. Why don't they just turn themselves over to law enforcement upon arriving in Saipan? Their families back in China are collateral for them completing the mission.
Nobody really wins, except the big boys at the top. Oh hey, just like the CNMI government.
Re: Fuckme - I can understand your point of view. But - in cases involving a fatal gunshot wound, how do Chinese bring guns in to the CNMI? Not saying it isn't possible, and on that note - I have often wondered if someone isn't "borrowing" guns from a shooting gallery for certain crimes on the island? Of course I'm sure DPS is smart enough to require all guns on island to submit to a "slug test" (into gelatin) and also record a firing pin impression mark test on a cartridge? Oh wait a minute, I'm sorry - they are still working on early Chamorro slingshot ballistics. My bad.
Loans from Chinese loan sharks don't die with the debtor. They are inherited by the debtor's next of kin, even if the next of kin had no contact or knowledge of the loan or even of their relative.
Murders as well as suicides often follow such an "inheritance."
The Consulate fully knows the killings were carried out by Chinese gangsters. But the idea of "poor innocent Chinese people are dying in America and there's an American cover-up" fits current Chinese domestic political needs.
Local DPS have difficulty finding their socks and shoes, let alone to actually solve any serious crime. The arrest that are made "occasionally" are usually the career petty criminals that are well known to these cops (and not related to any one of them) as the local Judges keep releasing them back on the streets.
A high-ranking source in the CNMI government told me that these "hits" were in-and-out, perpetrated by the Triad over drugs or drug money. Is this true? No idea.
But I do know that most of the methamphetamines come from China.