2-year probation for woman who shipped unregistered pesticide

The federal court has imposed a two-year probation sentence on a woman who carried 1,600 packets of unregistered pesticide from China and distributed them on Saipan.

U.S. District Court for the NMI visiting judge Philip M. Pro ordered that defendant Yuqiong Zheng, a Chinese national, shall be turned over to a duly authorized immigration official for deportation proceedings.

Pro prohibited Zheng from using or possessing a controlled substance other than that prescribed by a physician.

Pro, however, suspended the mandatory drug testing requirement based on the courts determination that the defendant poses a low risk of future substance abuse.

The judge required the defendant to pay a $5 court assessment fee.

The two charges in the indictment were dismissed.

Zheng and her court-appointed counsel, Steven Pixley, signed a plea agreement with the U.S. government. The defendant pleaded guilty to the information that charged her with one count of distribution of unregistered pesticide.

The judge granted her plea and the agreement.

During Wednesdays hearing, assistant U.S. attorney Kirk Schuler and Pixley recommended a probation sentence.

According to the plea agreement, on Oct. 8 to 9, Zheng traveled aboard Northwest Airlines from China to Tokyo, Japan, then on a connecting flight to Saipan.

In her checked luggage, the defendant concealed over 10,000 packets with a total weight of 200 lbs of various suspected pesticides manufactured in China.

Among these packets were 1,600 packets of a Chinese pesticide known as Buprofezin.

Buprofezin is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a pesticide. Buprofezin was not a registered pesticide under the U.S. law.

Nevertheless, Zheng distributed the pesticide by shipping it to the CNMI.