Evan Montvel-Cohen, a Guam media executive who co-founded the liberal national radio network Air America, pleaded no contest this morning in Circuit Court to a charge of first-degree theft.

Montvel-Cohen’s role with Air America in 2004 and his legal and financial problems here and in New York brought him notoriety and scorn from conservative media outlets and bloggers around the country.
His no-contest plea today was part of a bargain with prosecutors who agreed to dismiss other charges of credit card fraud, forgery, money laundering and second-degree theft.
Prosecutors also agreed not to seek jail time for Montvel-Cohen and he agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to a former business associate here, defense lawyer Todd Eddins said.
“It’s a reasonable resolution to the case,” said Eddins.
Montvel-Cohen will be sentenced July 28 by Circuit Judge Randal Lee. The defendant may ask Lee for a deferred acceptance of the no contest plea, a legal mechanism that would result in no criminal record for Montvel-Cohen if he stays trouble-free for a specified period of court supervision.
Montvel-Cohen had been accused of stealing more than $62,000 from a Waimanalo landscaping firm, Ultimate Innovations, where he worked as a business manager in 2005.
Air America, which featured comedian and now-politician Al Franken as its best-known host, was launched in 2004, with financing that included more than $800,000 from a nonprofit boys and girls club in New York where Montvel-Cohen was employed as development director.
That investment, as well as loans that Montvel-Cohen received from the club, were the subject of a criminal investigation by New York City officials, but he was never charged with an offense.
After leaving New York in 2004, Montvel-Cohen began working at Ultimate Innovations here in February 2005.
He returned to Guam in 2006.