People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizen Ye Fang, 42, was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a federally controlled substance.
District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona sentenced him to 25 years in federal prison. She also ordered Fang to report to immigration officials for deportation proceedings after serving his sentence.
According to the United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and NMI, Ye Fang arrived in the CNMI from China in 2016 under a tourist visa waiver program. After his waiver term had lapsed, he remained on Saipan, where he ran a birth tourism business for three years. Ye Fang hosted at least 200 women and their families from China so that pregnant women could give birth on the island. He later began trafficking methamphetamine.
In November 2022, CNMI police executed a search warrant at Ye Fang’s home. They seized more than one kilogram of methamphetamine. A CNMI arrest warrant was issued, but Ye Fang remained a fugitive, escaping from Saipan by boat and traveling to Guam in the summer of 2023. From Guam, Ye Fang continued to organize methamphetamine trafficking in the CNMI.
In September 2023, he arranged the shipment of methamphetamine hidden inside lava lamps, which were sent to Saipan from California. The packages were intercepted by CNMI Customs, who coordinated with the Drug Enforcement Agency to conduct a controlled delivery. That resulted in the arrest of co-conspirator Liang Yang, another out-of-status PRC national. A total of eight pounds of liquid methamphetamine was seized.
Ye Fang eventually fled Guam in November 2023 via commercial airline using the identification of another person. He then traveled to Palau, where he organized the murder of another PRC citizen. In January 2024, Ye Fang and three others were arrested in Palau for that crime. Ye Fang pled guilty to manslaughter in March 2024 and was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. In May 2024, he was extradited to the CNMI, where he pleaded guilty to the lava lamp drug scheme.
“Law enforcement has brought Ye Fang’s Indo-Pacific crime spree to an end,” stated United States Attorney Shawn Anderson. “He will now serve many years in a United States prison with other high-risk offenders. Every day of his sentence is a day made safer for the people of the CNMI. We will continue to use our resources to combat transnational criminals and protect our communities from perpetrators of violent crime.”
