Ybanez pleads guilty to false statement in bank loan application

Defense attorney Robert T. Torres said Kane Alekzander Pangelinan Ybanez pleaded guilty to a federal charge because he admitted making a false statement on a bank loan application.

“Well, simply because he admitted that he is guilty,” Torres said after Ybanez’s change-of-plea hearing last Oct. 6.

Torres said the case involved a loan application submitted to a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

“When you fill out a loan application and you submit it to a bank that is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, all your statements have to be truthful and accurate,” Torres said.

Ybanez pleaded guilty to one count of false statement in a loan application during a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona presided over the hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Garth R. Backe represented the federal government, while Torres represented Ybanez.

Under the amended plea agreement, Ybanez admitted that he gave false information to First Hawaiian Bank when he applied for a vehicle loan on Dec. 24, 2025.

Ybanez had been appointed as a criminal investigator with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, on Sept. 8, 2025.

His employment was terminated on Dec. 17, 2025, while he was attending the Criminal Investigator Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Glynco, Georgia.

He flew back to Saipan the next day, one day before he was scheduled to graduate from the program.

Six days after his employment ended, Ybanez applied for a vehicle loan at First Hawaiian Bank. In the application, he falsely stated that he was still working as an “ICE Immigration & Customs Enforcement” criminal investigator and earning $5,634 a month.

Torres said making a false statement on an application to a federally insured bank is a serious federal offense.

“The maximum, just for everyone to know, is up to 30 years and up to a million-dollar fine,” he said.

Ybanez originally faced three federal charges.

A federal grand jury indicted him in August on one count of false statement in a loan application and two counts of falsely impersonating a federal officer.

The indictment alleged that on Dec. 27, 2025, Ybanez told CNMI Department of Public Safety officers that he was a “federal agent” or “HSI agent” in an effort to be released from custody.

The indictment also alleged that on Jan. 10, 2026, Ybanez again claimed to be a federal or HSI agent in an attempt to influence a DPS officer who was trying to make an arrest.

Those two impersonation charges are allegations and were not part of Ybanez’s guilty plea.

Each false-impersonation count carried a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The bank-loan charge carried a maximum of 30 years.

Those were maximum penalties allowed by law and were not the sentences Ybanez was necessarily expected to receive.

Ybanez first appeared before Manglona on Sept. 3. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges and was released while the case was pending.

A jury trial had been set for Oct. 27.

That trial will no longer happen after Ybanez changed his plea.

Under the plea agreement, Ybanez pleaded guilty only to Count 1. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to ask the court to dismiss counts 2 and 3 when Ybanez is sentenced.

The agreement also gives Ybanez credit under federal sentencing rules if he continues to accept responsibility and follows the conditions of the deal.

The parties agreed to start with an offense level of 7. They also agreed that the loss did not exceed $6,500 and that no increase should be added for the amount of the loss, the number of victims, or Ybanez’s role in the offense.

Ybanez may also receive a reduction for accepting responsibility.

If his final offense level drops to 5 and he is placed in the lowest criminal history category, the advisory sentencing range would be zero to six months. That means a sentence with no prison time is possible.

But no sentence has been promised.

Ybanez’s criminal history category has not yet been decided, and Manglona is not required to follow the recommendation of either side. The U.S. Probation Office will prepare a report before sentencing, and the judge will make the final decision.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Ybanez appeared out of custody.

U.S. Probation Officer Timothy Rabago told the court that Ybanez had been following his release conditions and could remain free while the case continued.

The court then went over the plea agreement with the lawyers. Manglona discussed several parts of the agreement, including possible prison time, supervised release, restitution, and what the government would have had to prove at trial.

The court took a recess at 2:25pm so Torres could go over changes to the agreement with Ybanez.

The hearing resumed at 2:35pm.

Torres told the court that he had reviewed the amended agreement with Ybanez and that his client was ready to go forward.

Ybanez was then placed under oath.

Manglona explained his rights and reviewed the amended plea agreement with him. Ybanez also explained in his own words what he had done.

Backe then told the court what the government would have tried to prove if the case had gone to trial.

Ybanez pleaded guilty to Count 1.

Manglona found that Ybanez understood the plea and was entering it knowingly and voluntarily. She then found him guilty.

The court canceled the Oct. 27 jury trial and allowed Ybanez to remain released while awaiting sentencing.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 12, 2027, at 9am.