HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man was found guilty of stealing $1,400 from an 83-year-old man.
On Wednesday in the Superior Court of Guam, Estanislao Matagolai was found guilty of theft by deception with a special allegation of vulnerable victim and two counts of theft by deception as misdemeanors, the Office of the Attorney General announced in a press release.
According to charging documents, Matagolai was charged in October 2021 after an 83-year-old man said he received three phone calls over three days from “Joey,” who called the elderly man his uncle.
The victim reported he does have a family member named “Joey” and he was under the impression he was talking to a family member, who requested money.
The complaint stated that in the three days before making the complaints on Oct. 12, 2021, the victim said he agreed to first give “Joey” $450 for burial expenses for the caller’s daughter. The next day “Joey” asked for $300 to feed his family and on the third day asked for $650 to pay his power bill. In all three instances, another family member collected the money from the 83-year-old man.
The man who collected the money was identified to be Matagolai, who allegedly admitted to officers the victim gave him money, according to the complaint.
Attorney General
In the press release issued by the AG’s Office, Matagolai was confirmed to have committed the theft by deception while on felony release.
“He used (the) generosity and compassion of this manåmko’ to take his money. He was released in CF17-20 with similar charges of theft by deception,” the Office of the Attorney General said in the release.
As a result of the guilty verdict and special allegation, Matagolai faces a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison, which the AG’s office said it will be requesting from Judge Vernon Perez.
The OAG further stated the case “is yet another case of the damage caused to a crime victim from Guam’s catch, release and re-offend problem.”
According to Post files, Matagolai was charged in 2016, 2014 and 2011 with theft by deception and used similar techniques to con victims into giving him money.
Estanislao Matagolai
