HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A 14-year-old boy tried to protect his mother by placing himself between her and an estranged boyfriend’s alleged assault with a chain. In the process, the boy allegedly was repeatedly struck.
The incident occurred on Dec. 16, 2023, according to a complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam against the ex-boyfriend, identified as Matthew Siguenza Salas, 28.
“To which he also got hit several times by Salas. (The woman) began to shout at Salas, telling him to ‘stop’ and that her neighbors would call the police. Salas eventually took the chain with him and left,” the complaint said.
Officers with the Guam Police Department who responded to the scene said they observed injuries on both the woman and teen. The woman had redness on her ear and the left side of her head and shoulder. The teen had redness on his ear and right side of his head.
The charging documents stated Salas showed up at the woman’s home saying he needed her help.
“She saw that Salas was at the window, and he told her that he needed her help. He claimed that his car had run out of gas, and it was parked in the parking lot of Island Tinting in East Agana,” the complaint said.
The woman agreed to help and woke up her 14-year-old son to accompany her and Salas. The three proceeded to the woman’s car, but never left. Instead, Salas allegedly assaulted the woman.
“As (the woman) entered the vehicle, she heard something drop and fall out of the car. She asked Salas what the object was and Salas answered, ‘It’s a chain, why?'” according to the complaint.
This made the woman “uncomfortable” and she withdrew her offer to help, directing Salas to get out of the car.
The woman and her son walked back to their apartment door and, as the woman unlocked the door, she said, she heard “the sound of someone rushing up behind her.”
“Before she could turn around, she got hit on her left ear by something, but she didn’t believe it was the chain,” the complaint said.
Salas faces two counts of assault and two counts of family violence, each as a misdemeanor, in this case.
Other incident
But this was not the first time Salas allegedly showed up outside the woman’s bedroom window. Police entertained a complaint by the woman less than a month earlier and responded to the same apartment because Salas allegedly broke into the woman’s home and exhibited aggressive behavior while her children slept.
The magistrate’s complaint, filed Saturday, states that a loud knocking on the woman’s bedroom window woke her up early that morning. Salas was outside the window “shouting” for the woman to let him in.
Although she did not comply with his demand, Salas allegedly was able to gain access through a sliding door located in a vacant bedroom of the home.
“She then saw Salas standing in the hallway near her bedroom door. She told Salas to leave, to which he refused and proceeded back to the vacant bedroom,” the complaint said.
The woman informed police that she saw Salas sit at the edge of the bed and heard him mumble “incoherently before aggressively rushing head first into the bedroom wall.”
Salas rushed into the wall two times, according to the complaint, both times leaving 6- to 8-inch holes in the bedroom’s western wall.
Salas’ behavior reportedly scared the woman, who called the police “in fear for her and her children’s safety.”
The complaint said she told officers she believed there was potential for Salas to “turn his aggression on her or her children.”
Salas is facing charges of home invasion as a first-degree felony and two counts of criminal mischief as misdemeanors, as a result of this incident.
PIC chapel burglary
On March 29, police happened upon Salas during a traffic stop in the parking lot of the Pacific Islands Club Guam in Tumon, prompted by a “burnt rear license plate bulb.”
The encounter with GPD led to additional charges of drug possession and burglary.
Salas “was drenched in sweat and his feet were covered in sand. When asked where he came from, Salas said he was at the beach. Officers observed a red Husky 20 Gal. Compressor in the passenger seat, noting that the wheels of the compressor looked as if they were in the sand,” the complaint said.
By this time, police already confirmed that Salas was wanted for the assault and home invasion incidents and asked Salas if he had any weapons on his person.
“Salas was patted down for weapons and consented to removal of the contents of his pockets. Officers retrieved a heat-modified glass pipe with a white frost-like substance within. Salas spontaneously uttered, ‘l was going to tell you about that,'” the complaint said.
NARK II field test results for the substance came back positive for methamphetamine.
When questioned about the air compressor, Salas asserted that a homeless man gave it to him.
“A check of the airtight brand bottle compressor’s item number led the officers to consult with the PlC security guard, who indicated that the chapel was undergoing construction. Officers proceeded to the east most entrance of the west most building and observed signs of forced entry,” the complaint said.
According to police, the chapel’s stained-glass door was shattered with what officers described as “an improvised tool, near the locking mechanism at the bottom right of the door.”
Inside the chapel, police saw a box filled with smaller boxes with an identifying item number which was “The same item number previously found on the glass bottle in the vehicle Salas was operating.”
They also found tracks in the sand “consistent with the wheels of the compressor being dragged.”
As a result, Salas was charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony and burglary as a second-degree felony.
Pacific Islands Club Guam is seen Jan. 24, 2023, in Tumon.
