By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

A couple from Astumbo in Dededo, the main suspects in a busted widespread burglaries and drug deals on island, yesterday pleaded not guilty to the felony charges filed against them in the Superior Court of Guam.
Raymond Ignacio Duenas Jr., 33, and his wife Lourdes Castro Duenas, 40, were charged with theft by receiving stolen property as a second-degree felony and theft by receiving stolen property as a third-degree felony.
They were earlier charged with possession with intent to deliver a schedule II controlled substance but were removed from the local grand jury indictment after the Guam District Court grand jury charged them with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking.
The couple, who remained behind bars, was ordered by Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena to return on May 14 at 10 a.m. for a criminal trial setting in the courtroom of Judge Steven Unpingco.
Raymond Duenas had prior convictions in the Superior Court on Dec. 29, 2000 for possession of a schedule II controlled substance, terrorizing and possession of a firearm without an identification card.
On March 29, 2001, he was also convicted for theft in the local court.
Lourdes Duenas, for her part, was convicted on Dec. 22, 2000 for possession of a schedule II controlled substance and promoting prison contraband before the trial court.
The Duenas couple was arrested during a search at their residence on Y-Sengson Road in Dededo on April 20, 2007.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents and members of the Guam Police Department discovered a Ziploc bag with approximately 76 grams of methamphetamine otherwise known as “ice.”
The indictment record stated that Raymond Duenas was in possession of methamphetamine. And while with an intent to distribute the illegal substance, he was carrying and using a Ruger pistol and a 9 mm caliber.
Raiding teams also confiscated from the Duenas couple several home appliances, tools and firearms such as a Winchester shotgun, a Rossi shotgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, a Harrington & Richardson 12-gauge shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol.