HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Three people in three separate drug arrests were charged in the Superior Court of Guam on Friday.
Jolene Cabrera San Nicolas, 43, was arrested in Sinajana, after a Guam Police Department officer, during a March 28 traffic stop, observed her “grinding her teeth, … which the officer stated was an indicator of someone using methamphetamine,” a magistrate’s complaint against her stated.
Officers on the scene subsequently conducted a search of the vehicle she was driving and located a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine in the driver’s side door pocket, the complaint said.
In a separate case, Patrick James Pangelinan, 38, was also pulled over in Sinajana. He was driving a motorcycle with expired registration tags, according to police.
The magistrate’s complaint filed against Pangelinan states that, when approached by police, he gripped tightly onto a sling bag that was across his chest.
“The officer then asked the defendant if he had been arrested before and the defendant responded that he had been arrested before and is ‘on probation.’ When the officer asked if he had any weapons or drugs in his bag, the defendant said no. The defendant then agreed to a search of his bag,” the complaint said.
The officer allegedly found a resealable baggie containing suspected methamphetamine.
“The defendant told officers that he purchased the baggie of ‘ice’ in February 2024 and that he forgot that he had the baggie in his bag,” the complaint said.
The charging document noted that Pangelinan is on pre-trial release in a 2023 case.
The third arrest on Friday occurred in Mangilao. Nicolas Jonathan Pereda, 40, was pulled over along Dairy Road where he was arrested for drug possession.
The complaint against Pereda stated that during the traffic stop, police “illuminated the interior of the vehicle” and observed an unexpended shell casing possibly from a handgun.
“When the officer asked if he had anything illegal within the truck, such as guns or drugs within the vehicle, the defendant said, ‘no.’ The defendant then consented to a search of his vehicle,” the complaint said.
Police found two pouches that allegedly contained drugs. The first bag, described as a black pouch, was located between the front passenger seat and the driver’s seat.
The pouch contained “various resealable baggies containing a substance suspected of being methamphetamine. Also discovered was a plastic straw with a bevel cut and what appeared to be a baggie protruding out of the bevel cut area. The officer then took out the baggie from the straw and observed that the baggie contained a crystalline substance suspected of being methamphetamine,” the complaint said.
Pereda denied ownership of the methamphetamine, but told police “he uses ‘ice’ when he needs to get stuff done and that he purchases the ‘ice’ from a relative’s friend.”
All three were separately charged with possession of a Scheduled II controlled substance as a third-degree felony.
A Guam Police Department cruiser is seen Dec. 6, 2023, parked in front of the Dededo Precinct.
