Due to an active arrest warrant in the U.S. mainland, the wife of former Palau president of Toribiong was placed under arrest upon entry at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport last Monday afternoon and released the next day, according to the Department of Public Safety.

DPS assistant chief of police and acting public information officer Simon T. Manacop shared with the media that Christa N. Toribiong was arrested at the Saipan airport in connection with criminal charges filed against her in Grayson County, Texas.

Toribiong had just deplaned a Jeju flight arriving from South Korea late Monday afternoon, and was about to enter Saipan when authorities discovered the active arrest warrant under charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, specifically a firearm. The arrest warrant had been put into effect on Aug. 29, 2024.

Toribiong was detained at the Department of Corrections, until yesterday afternoon. Up until that point, according to DPS, the Criminal Investigation Bureau had been working on detaining her further as a fugitive of justice. Around 2pm, and on behalf of DPS, Manacop informed media partners, “I’ve just been informed that Texas will not extradite outside the 50 U.S. states. She will be released.” He said “The criminal charges were filed in Texas [and] she did not violate any laws here in the CNMI.” As to her intentions, Manacop said that they were not able to find out the purpose of Toribiong’s visit to the CNMI.

Toribiong, an attorney, is also known to be the current wife of former Palau president Johnson Toribiong. Allegedly Toribiong filed for divorce from the former president last month, but at the moment it is unclear if the pair is still together.