Richard Peng Sentenced for Harboring Birth Tourist

          SHAWN N. ANDERSON, Acting United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant RICHARD PENG aka PAI PENG, a citizen of the United States and Taiwan, was sentenced on June 12, 2017, in District Court, to six months imprisonment. The Court also ordered a one-year term of supervised release following PENG’S release, and a fine of $2,000.00, in addition to the payment of a mandatory $100 assessment fee.

          On August 2, 2016, PENG was charged by Information with Harboring an Illegal Alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(3). On August 3, 2016, PENG waived indictment by the grand jury, and entered a guilty plea to the charge. From November 2014 until February 2015, PENG housed a Chinese birth-tourist after she had overstayed her conditional parole, with the intention of avoiding her detection by immigration authorities.

          Acting United States Attorney Anderson stated, “On April 11, 2017, Attorney General Sessions announced that DOJ will place a high priority on establishing lawfulness in our immigration system. The District of the Northern Mariana Islands will see an increase in federal law enforcement efforts to implement this important policy change. As this case demonstrates, the Department is committed to holding persons accountable for enticing, encouraging and abetting aliens who unlawfully enter or remain in the United States.”

          The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by James J. Benedetto, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands.