Three Chinese men accused of illegally possessing 115 bogus credit cards WHO were arraigned in District Court this morning and while two of the men had no issues entering their plea, the third man was hesitant and at the last minute changed his mind.
Guam -Two of the men accused are barely adults, Ziwen Weng, 19 years old and Yunkai Lu, 18 years old both plead not guilty to accusations of their involvement to utilize counterfeit credit to purchase high-end merchandise and ship the goods to addresses in Macao, Hongkong and the U.S. Both men were arrested after their luggage was searched by Customs agents and the fake credit cards discovered hidden in clothing, shoes and a cigarette box.
In court today, Yunkai Lu was released into the custody of his mother, who is temporarily on island. While the government objected to his release citing that it is unfair to his co-defendant, District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan granted the release stating that Lu is not a danger to the community and posed no flight risk. A motion was also filed on behalf of Lu requesting that his case be transferred to California, however, the motion was not addressed.
The third man, 32-year old Daoqin Liu also plead not guilty, however, at the start of the arraignment it appeared that he was going to enter a guilty plea, in fact, he had signed the plea agreement on September 27.
So what happened? Well, during questioning for entering a guilty plea, a hesitant Liu, stated he had not seen the credit cards, prompting his attorney Jefferey Moots to show him photographs of the 115 counterfeit devices. Shortly after, Moots informed the court that his client “would not be taking the plea today.” Judge Manibusan agreed citing that he would allow Liu time to think over the plea agreement.
The three men were indicted and charged with the illegal possession of 15 or more counterfeit devices. The charges carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250-thousand dollar fine and three years of supervised release. According to Judge Manibusan, there may also be restitution and the possibility of deportation.
A trial setting is scheduled for December 6 at 10 a.m.
