Five sentenced in Guam district court

Alicia A.G. Limtiaco, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that five more defendants who were witnesses in the U.S. v. Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr. aka “Mat”, Rudy P.H. Sablan, Maria C. Edrosa aka “Cristina”, et al. trial were sentenced by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, as follows:

 James Pangelinan, 44, was sentenced on July 6, 2014, to time served followed by four years of supervised release. Pangelinan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Pangelinan assisted co-defendant Ana Toves in selling methamphetamine for Mateo Sardoma, Jr. and Rudy Sablan.

 Sylvia Mashburn Duenas, 30, was sentenced on July 8, 2014, to 37 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release. Duenas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Defendant Duenas assisted Mateo Sardoma, Jr. in obtaining the methamphetamine.

 Christopher A.D. Mesa, 33, was sentenced on July 9, 2014, to 51 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release. Mesa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during a drug crime in aid of Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr.

 Anthony Villanueva, 48, was sentenced on July 10, 2014, to 46 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release. Villanueva pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Villanueva assisted Mateo Sardoma, Jr. by supplying a post office box for Mateo Sardoma, Jr. to bring methamphetamine into Guam.

 Paul Perez, 47, was sentenced on July 10, 2014, to 48 months imprisonment and five years of supervised release. Perez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Perez received a shipment of methamphetamine on behalf of Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr. and mailed some of the cash profits to California.

Limtiaco stated, “Our community is not immune from the poison of methamphetamine. These cases illustrate the hard work our partners in law enforcement do every day to stop the distribution of methamphetamine into Guam.”

These three defendants were witnesses in the U.S. v. Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr. aka “Mat”, Rudy P.H. Sablan, Maria C. Edrosa aka “Cristina”, et al., which is the product of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The investigations were conducted by Special Agents and Task Force Officers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Black. (USAO)