Quiboloy follower pleads guilty to making false statement
Lalaine Ignao, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jun 24 2020 02:52 PM
HAWAII – After two years of hearings, Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church manager Felina Salinas has entered into a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to a lesser charge of making a false statement.
The deal would see Salinas cleared of cash smuggling charges.
Salinas was arrested in March 2018 after failing to report more than $300,000 in cash that was in a suitcase aboard a private jet bound for the Philippines a month earlier.
After an investigation, it was revealed that the suitcase belonged to Filipino Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church and that Quiboloy told his driver not to put it on the plane. He had attended a concert on the island and was on his way back to Manila.
Salinas admitted she lied when she claimed that the suitcase was hers in an attempt to protect Quiboloy. She was also charged with accessory after the fact for helping a person with the initials A and Q avoid arrest and prosecution, according to the indictment.
Quiboloy was never charged for the incident.
Prosecutors have agreed to detention of no more than 90 days when Salinas is sentenced in October, compared to the original 33 to 41 months of jail time for cash smuggling.
Salinas was charged with attempted bulk cash smuggling after admitting she owned some $350,000 in undeclared cash and gun parts on Quiboloy’s private jet before a flight to Manila in February 2018.
US Customs officials who inspected Quiboloy’s plane before takeoff found the stash all in $100 bills stuffed in socks.
- Quiboloy follower charged with cash smugg
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