After two years of investigation, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has filed charges against the first two former employees of the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA).
The charging documents state, “Due to the number of defendants and excessive documents in this case, the investigation into said individuals were separated.” In other words, the case involves more than two individuals, but because of the number of documents involved, OSP filed against individuals separately.
On June 9th, OSP filed charges against former WIOA employees Kei’ili Mikel and Nglodech Luii. Kei’ili Mikel was the former Monitoring Officer, and Nglodech Luii was the former Administrative Specialist for WIOA.
Kei’ili Mikel, a former Monitoring Officer, was charged with two counts, Theft of Government Property in the First Degree, a felony violation. The second charge was for violation of the Code of Ethics, which is a misdemeanor offense.
Nglodech Luii, a former Administrative Specialist, was also charged on two counts, the Theft of Government Property in the First Degree, a felony, and the Use of Government Property charge, a misdemeanor offense.
On the count of Theft of Government Property in the First Degree, defendant Luii is accused of having “ intentionally or knowingly embezzled, stole, purloined, from in or about 2011 through on or about June converted., conveyed, or disposed of any money, funds, or thing of value of the national government of the Republic of Palau, i.e., WIA or WIOA money or funds; or received, concealed, or retained the same with intent to convert it to her use or gain, knowing it was embezzled, stolen, purloined, or converted in an amount greater than $9,000.”
Defendant Mikel is also accused of “intentionally or knowingly embezzled, stole, purloined, from in or about 2011 through on or about June converted., conveyed, or disposed of any money, funds, or thing of value of the national government of the Republic of Palau, … in an amount greater than $20,000,” based on the case filed.
Both defendants have pled not guilty to the charges against them and will appear for pre-trial on July 14th and 18th, respectively.
The defendants charged in these cases are innocent unless proven guilty in court.