DERIK Camacho Reyes, a repeat drug offender serving time at the Department of Corrections, has admitted assaulting a prison guard and possessing methamphetamine on Friday.
At the change of plea hearing on July 5, 2022, before Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI, Reyes pled guilty to assault on a federal officer or employee, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b), and possession of contraband in prison, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2), (b)(1).
Judge Manglona found Reyes fully competent to enter a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent plea.
She accepted the plea and judged him guilty of the offenses.
Judge Manglona scheduled the sentencing for Oct. 7, 2022, at 1:30 pm.
At the hearing, Reyes was represented by court-appointed attorney David Banes while Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. appeared for the federal government.
Following the defendant’s guilty plea, Judge Manglona vacated the jury trial scheduled for July 26, and unsealed the plea agreement.
According to the plea agreement, Reyes was incarcerated as a prisoner of the local criminal justice system in the maximum-security section of Pod 4 at the CNMI prison.
On Feb. 15, 2022, Corrections Officer Mario Cudiamat, while at his post, observed two federal prisoners interacting with Reyes. The interaction appeared suspicious to Cudiamat, and with assistance from another prison guard, he approached the defendant.
Upon the officer’s arrival at the cell, Reyes immediately attempted to flush an object down the toilet. Officer Cudiamat grabbed Reyes’ left hand which contained a meth pipe he was attempting to flush. The defendant then turned while making a thrusting motion with his left hand toward the upper torso of Officer Cudiamat. Defendant’s left hand contained a meth pipe approximately 4.5 inches in length, and approximately one inch of the sharp pipe protruded from the hand of Reyes while thrusting it toward the prison guard.
In the struggle, Reyes forcefully used his own body to push against the prison guard, who then fell back and hit his head on the steel metal prison door frame.
With the help of the other prison guard, Reyes was taken to the floor and was restrained. A meth pipe and a small bag containing a white crystalline substance were recovered from the defendant’s left hand. Immediately thereafter, the defendant surrendered a lighter, a cell phone, a cell phone charger, a power bank and two SIM cards, all of which are prohibited contraband, the plea agreement stated.
Officer Cudiamat was treated at the hospital for a contusion on the back of his head, and he was also treated for a chemical burn on his hand that was a result of his skin being exposed to methamphetamine during the assault.
The small bag of white crystalline substance recovered from the defendant’s hand was analyzed by the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Southwest Laboratory, and it was determined to contain 0.069 gram of methamphetamine.
