HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Three individuals were charged on Saturday with offenses related to illegal drug possession in three separate cases.
Christopher Rosalin, Troy Askas and Patrick San Nicolas were each charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as third-degrees felonies.
In the case against Rosalin, officers with the Guam Police Department who conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle he was operating allegedly observed the defendant making “jerky” movements and speaking rapidly. One of the officers noted seeing a digital scale with what appeared to be methamphetamine residue in the vehicle’s glove compartment as Rosalin looked for his vehicle’s registration and insurance documents.
Police reported that a search of Rosalin’s vehicle resulted in a glass tube with suspected methamphetamine residue being discovered in the center console.
In the case against Askas, police said a traffic stop for expired tags resulted in an admission of illegal drug possession.
“Askas was asked to exit the vehicle after indicating that there might be an Airsoft, or pellet gun, in the vehicle. Officers asked for consent to search the vehicle. Askas consented. Before searching, (the) officer asked Askas if there was anything in the vehicle that he should know about. Askas stated, “Yeah, there’s a pipe and syringe by the driver’s door.” He further stated there was “ice in his wallet,” a magistrate’s complaint stated.
Field tests of the substance resulted in a presumed positive for methamphetamine.
In the third case, Patrick San Nicolas, who was identified to be homeless, attempted to flee police after providing them with a fake name when he encountered them at a Sinajana gas station.
“Officers pursued the defendant on foot, and an officer used a Taser when the defendant continued to run after being given instructions to stop. (The) defendant fell, holding a black pouch to his chest. Police tried to get the defendant’s hands out from under his chest, but (the) defendant ‘refused instructions’ and did not give the officers his hands. (The) defendant tried to run away again and an officer had to use a Taser. An officer tried to secure the defendant, who ‘kept pulling his left arm away.’ Officers were able to secure the defendant and asked him if there was anything of concern in his pouch. (The) defendant stated there was not and consented to a search of the pouch,” the complaint said.
Police said the pouch contained “suspected methamphetamine in resealable baggies and a heat-modified glass pipe stained with rusty residue.”
San Nicolas allegedly waived his rights in writing and admitted the suspected methamphetamine was his.
The complaint said, “He uses it to avoid being hungry because he is homeless, and had (run) because he had the suspected methamphetamine.”
Moylan on meth
The three drug-related arrests constituted most of the cases charged on Saturday, raising the question: Is the methamphetamine problem on Guam getting worse?
While Attorney General Douglas Moylan did not have the statistics on Sunday to answer the question, he did note that after 11 months in office, it appears the courts are keeping those who are charged jailed pending their trials.
“Our attack upon the meth epidemic has been to stop the catch, release and re-offend problem and also to begin to do deterrence campaigns showing photos and examples of those convicted, … that if you possess, take or distribute meth that our juries are convicting, and we are seeking actual jail time,” Moylan told the Post on Sunday.
But more needs to be done, according to the attorney general.
“The AG is only one part of the answer to this question. If each government official charged with this problem, both in protecting law-abiding people and seeing a way to stop the demand and fix the meth addicts, we could be closer to successful island nations around us like Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong,” he said.
Moylan’s platform centers around being the “toughest AG on crime.” To him, that includes being hard on methamphetamine addicts.
“That is the legal policy at the AG’s office for the next three years. We have consistently been hitting meth criminals hard once GPD arrests, to provide the protection, punishment and deterrence that comes from strong-on-crime prosecutions. Rehab is not our job,” Moylan said.
He said his job is getting convictions. Rehabilitation, however, sits with others in the government.
“The bigger problem on ‘fixing’ the meth epidemic occurs with other directors in the governor’s Cabinet and at the Legislature. Guam Behavioral Health, the Adult Drug Court Program, (the) Department of Labor and the Guam Legislature are tasked with finding these people a path to fix whatever damaged them to need to voluntarily take drugs. Make no mistake, these meth addicts and drug dealers were not forced to become meth addicts or dealers. They chose this deadly path and must suffer the bad consequences. The AG and U.S. Attorney share the common role and goal to hunt down, prosecute and lock up meth addicts and meth dealers,” Moylan said.
“Our people must not forget that drug addicts are not ‘drug addicts’ because meth exists, they are drug addicts because they chose that life. Many poor and bad choices in these drug addicts’ lives have led them to the point that they believe that taking a highly addictive drug is acceptable. It costs us millions of dollars to fix their problems and takes away from valuable moneys that could have been spent in our education, health care and public safety needs,” he continued.
Moylan said he believes that getting a person off methamphetamine does not solve the problem.
“Getting them into a positive lifestyle with a desire to work hard, find a job, etc., are all part of ‘recovering’ from being a meth addict. Studies show that once addicted to any addictive substance, especially meth, (it) increases their chance of relapsing back into the drug because of low points in their lives that have nothing to do with meth, i.e. divorce, depression, etc. It’s a constant battle that they face, but one they voluntarily got themselves into by first becoming a meth addict,” Moylan said.
The Guam Judicial Center is seen Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in Hagåtña.
Douglas Moylan
