HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A male passenger of a car pulled over during a traffic stop was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card.
About 11:20 a.m. Monday, Guam Police Department officers conducted a traffic stop of a car that had an expired registration tag. An officer was speaking with the driver when he heard a voice from the rear right passenger side of the car. The officer recognized Daniel Thomas Sanchez from previous encounters, according to a magistrate’s complaint filed Wednesday in the Superior Court of Guam.
During the pullover, the officer saw Sanchez reach toward his feet with his right hand and instructed Sanchez to stop and place his hands where they could be seen. The officer, upon observing Sanchez’s “furtive movements,” opened the rear passenger door and asked Sanchez to step out of the vehicle, the complaint stated.
“Upon Sanchez’s exit from the rear right passenger side, (the officer) noted in plain view what appeared to be the butt-end of a revolver protruding from a tennis shoe located on the rear right passenger deck area near where the officers observed him reaching,” the complaint stated, also noting a search of Sanchez’s person resulted in no weapons being found.
The officer subsequently called for assistance from the Dededo Precinct and upon arrival of additional officers, police found a loaded .38-caliber revolver in the tennis shoe. A “lower receiver of a rifle” was also found on the rear passenger seat, and a black bag was found near where the revolver was found.
According to the complaint, a search of the bag resulted in the discovery of a loaded Glock 41 .45-caliber pistol and ammunition for both weapons.
Additionally, officers found clear resealable bags which contained methamphetamine, along with other empty bags and two glass pipes.
“The report indicates that one of the reclosable bags containing the suspected methamphetamine substance weighed approximately 12.49 grams, and another one of the other reclosable bags contained … 2.48 grams. Another reclosable bag weighed 0.35 grams,” the complaint stated.
The Glock was determined by police to have been reported stolen in 2018 and Sanchez allegedly said he received the firearm from an unnamed man “as payment for selling the male individual methamphetamine,” the complaint stated.
Sanchez subsequently admitted to owning all the items found in the vehicle, the complaint stated.
Sanchez was charged with possession with intent to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance as a first-degree felony and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card as third-degree felonies.
Sanchez was on parole for a 2020 felony case for drug possession and possession of an unregistered firearm at the time of his arrest.
A Guam Police Department cruiser is seen parked in front of the Dededo precinct on Dec. 6, 2023. David Castro/The Guam Daily Post
