TAIPEI: A Superior Court of Guam judge sentenced a Taiwanese man to 15 months in local prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to drug possession.
Yu-Yang Lin, 27, said at a sentencing hearing Monday that his trip to Guam in October last year was his first time here. He was caught with about five grams of methamphetamine and multiple glass pipes coming off a China Airlines flight that originated in Taipei, Taiwan, court document state.
Lin also reportedly told authorities his purpose was to come to Guam to set up a computerized phishing operation to commit fraud, court papers state. Phishing is when victims are scammed into revealing personal information that can be used for identify theft.
Lin’s attorney, Stephen Hattori, executive director for Public Defender Service Corporation, said he’s already been in prison for 390 days. Judge Vernon Perez gave Lin credit for time served, which means he has about a little over two months left before his sentence is complete.
Lin said, through a translator, that since he’s been in Guam’s prison, his drug problem has been totally cleared. He said that he knows he did a terrible thing and begged the judge to let him return home.
Hattori said Lin, who does not understand or speak English, will likely be deported after serving his prison time.
“He’ll probably still be likely to be deported under the governor’s mission to extradite individuals,” Hattori said. “I’ve spoken with a couple case workers from the Department of Corrections and they believe he would be eligible for deportation or extradition after serving half of whatever sentence the court proposes.”
In addition to 15 months in prison, Judge Perez also ordered Lin to pay $1,000 fine. Lin said about $1,000 was among his belongings held by police after he was arrested.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Phelps said Lin came here with a second man who was not arrested and was denied entry to Guam by immigration officials and sent back to Taiwan. Phelps said both men were involved in a fairly complicated scheme. A financial backer paid for their plane tickets from Taiwan to Guam and they were supposed to meet a third man to bring them to the next location for a scheme, Phelps said.
