Five Defendants Sentenced In The District Court Of Guam

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:

1. Defendant JAMES PANGELINAN, age 44, was sentenced on July 6, 2014, to time served followed by four years of supervised release.  Defendant PANGELINAN pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846.  Defendant PANGELINAN assisted co-defendant Ana Toves in selling methamphetamine for Defendants Mateo Sardoma, Jr. and Rudy Sablan.
   

2. Defendant SYLVIA MASHBURN DUENAS, age 30, was sentenced on July 8, 2014, to
   37 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release.  Defendant
   DUENAS pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of
   21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846.  Defendant DUENAS assisted Defendant Mateo
   Sardoma, Jr. in obtaining the methamphetamine.
   

3. Defendant CHRISTOPHER A.D. MESA, age 33, was sentenced on July 9, 2014, to 51 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release.  Defendant MESA pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
   §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 and aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during a drug crime in aid of Defendant Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr.
   

4. Defendant ANTHONY VILLANUEVA, age 48, was sentenced on July 10, 2014, to 46 months incarceration followed by five years of supervised release.  Defendant VILLANUEVA pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846.  Defendant VILLANUEVA assisted defendant Mateo Sardoma, Jr. by supplying a post office box for Mateo Sardoma, Jr. to bring methamphetamine into Guam.
   

5. Defendant PAUL PEREZ, age 47, was sentenced on July 10, 2014, to 48 months imprisonment and five years of supervised release.  Defendant PEREZ pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. PEREZ received a shipment of methamphetamine on behalf of Defendant Mateo B. Sardoma, Jr. and mailed some of the cash profits to California.

U.S. Attorney 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 (OCDETF), 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 (ATF), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (DHS-HSI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Black.