By Trina A. San Agustin
Variety News Staff

A 41-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly sexually assaulting three minor boys over a period of five years.
Guam Police Department’s Juvenile Investigation Section Sgt. Art Paulino said they arrested Geronimo Loja Delfin after one of the boys came forward with the information at school.
Delfin was charged with 26 counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, 26 counts of family violence, and 26 counts of child abuse.
The boys are 8, 13, and 15 years old, according to Paulino.
“On Tuesday, one of the northern middle schools reported that a young boy, aged 13, went to a school official and said that he had been sexually assaulted by Delfin over a five-year period. The Sexual Assault Response Team, or SART, responded and arrested him (Delfin),” Paulino added.
SART consists of JIS investigators and officers, the Victims Advocates Reaching Out, and the Child Protective Services.
Delfin, according to Paulino, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct as there was no penetration, just touching of the private parts of the boys.
Paulino said the 26 counts of criminal sexual conduct refers to the 26 counts in a period of 14 days, and does not include the other times through the alleged five-year period.
“The 26 counts, once again, were just in a period of 14 days. If additional charges were to be tacked on, the Attorney General’s Office would have to do it. Every single contact is counted as one count. If a minor was touched inappropriately, that would be one count. So rather than getting a calculator and tabulating the whole thing, we just went with a 14-day period,’ Paulino told Variety.
Paulino said he believes that the boy who reported the sexual assault was able to do so because his school is active in GPD’s violence prevention program. The program teaches children with skills necessary to protect themselves and educates them on what to do if someone touches them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.
“This is a particular school that we have been reaching out to in terms of criminal sexual conduct, graffiti, and violence. This school takes a more proactive effort in preventing or stopping these events from happening,” Paulino added.
Paulino said sexual assault of minors is a concern.
“However, I don’t want the public to be unnecessarily alarmed. Though for five years of sounding the trumpet and saying there is a problem in the community, the investigation of sex crimes needs to be beefed up,” Paulino added.
He said the proactive measure GPD has been taking in the last three years teaches victims how they can protect themselves.
“The more proactive we are with the information, the more the silent victims will come out. What we have seen in the last month since we have increased our prevention programs, is that the silent victim is no longer staying silent,” said Paulino.
Paulino said he feels that when the “silent victim” sees the police department and CPS actively responding, investigating, and arresting perpetrators, then he will step forward.
“When the silent victim notices that active role, he will think, ‘this is their moment of vindication’. They will also think that it’s fantastic how law enforcement officials are moving in real time to investigate and apprehend the perpetrator. The victims are seeing this and now they will come forward,” he added.