Ex-CUC employee: James Santos asked me to damage chemicals

A former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. employee testified yesterday that James A. Santos asked him to damage the chemicals at CUC in exchange for money.

In the ongoing jury trial of Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez and co-defendants James Santos and Joaquina V. Santos, CUC management specialist Grina Mizutani also testified yesterday that Villagomez and then CUC executive director Anthony Guerrero contacted him to follow up on the $120,000 payment to Joaquina Santos of Blue Pacific for 3,000 gallons of Rydlyme.

The U.S. government also called to the witness stand CUC procurement and supply manager Manuel Borja Sablan.

As this developed, after talking with prosecution and defense lawyers yesterday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Alex R. Munson excused one juror.

Nicolas Muna, a former CUC employee responsible for issuing and receiving materials at the warehouse, told the court that between 1999 to 2000, James Santos, who is his neighbor on Rota, was at the CUC warehouse a couple of times to deliver chemicals.

One time, Muna said, James Santos asked him if he could damage the barrels of the chemicals and that Santos offered him an unstated amount of money to do it. He said he refused the offer and did not do what Santos asked him to do.

Muna said he couldn’t recall the exact date when James Santos approached him.

Follow-ups

Mizutani, who has been CUC’s management specialist since December 2007, testified that in the latter part of 2007, Villagomez texted him to follow up and push the $120,000 contract with Blue Pacific. He said Villagomez also called him once or twice for the same purpose.

After the signing of the $120,000 contract, Mizutani said Villagomez communicated with him twice or more to follow up on the payment.

The witness said it was only after the signing of the contract that he became aware that Villagomez is the brother of Joaquina Santos.

He said Villagomez and then executive director Anthony Guerrero texted him to follow up on the payment to Blue Pacific.

Mizutani also pointed to Charlene Tenorio as the other person pushing for the payment. Tenorio used to work at CUC as an administrative support specialist.

During cross-examination by attorney David Lujan, counsel for Villagomez, Mizutani admitted he was not involved in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 CUC Ryldyme transactions. Mizutani said his only personal knowledge was CUC’s 2007 transaction to purchase Rydlyme from Blue Pacific.

He also agreed with Lujan that he did not force CUC budget and fiscal officer Bettina G. Terlaje to sign the 2007 contract.

The witness, however, admitted to assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley that he used Villagomez’s name in pushing for the contract as it was being routed through CUC.

CUC procurement and supply manager Sablan testified that in the late 2007 he learned about Rydlyme when one of his staff, Joseph Fejeran, showed him a requisition voucher from CUC’s water division.

Sablan said he also received an unsolicited quotation for Rydlyme from Blue Pacific dated Aug. 27, 2007.