ONE of two individuals arrested for meth possession has been sentenced by Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo to three years’ imprisonment, but all suspended except for nine months with credit for the 113 days he had already served.
Morell Bayani Esteves, 47, pled guilty to one count of illegal possession of a controlled substance on Thursday.
The defendant was represented by Assistant Public Defender Tyler Scott while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Judge Govendo said Esteves will serve the sentence day for day without the possibility of parole, early release, weekend release or other similar programs.
Esteves will be released from the custody of the Department of Corrections on Sept. 23, 2023, at 8 a.m.
After serving his sentence, he will be placed on supervised probation for three years, pay a fine of $500, and perform 60 hours of community work service.
In addition, the Community Guidance Center will evaluate the defendant within 30 days for any recommended course of treatment focused on drug and alcohol treatment and mental health evaluation.
If after evaluation CGC recommends counseling, the defendant must complete all recommended counseling and treatment, the judge said.
No court information regarding Esteves’ co-defendant, Kemmy Encha Qiu, 38, was available.
According to the complaint against the two defendants, on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2022, a police patrol officer traveling southbound along Texas Road, Susupe observed a maroon sedan traveling northbound with its window rolled halfway, and the female driver not wearing a seat belt properly.
The patrol police officer made a U-turn, activated his emergency lights and pursued the maroon sedan for a violator stop.
Upon approaching the vehicle, the police officer saw the female driver with a male passenger seated in the front. The officer informed the driver why she was pulled over, and asked her to present her driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance documents.
The female driver was Qui, and her passenger was Esteves.
As the police officer was speaking to Qui, he noticed a small clear Ziploc bag on the driver side/gauge cluster, which also contained a cut straw and a crystalline substance.
Asked about the contents of the Ziploc bag, Qui said, “Asiga,” the Chamorro word for salt. She also denied that it belonged to her.
Using a field narcotics identification kit, the police officer tested the substance found in the car and it yielded a presumptive positive result for methamphetamine.
At the Department of Corrections, Esteves was searched by a Corrections officer who found two clear Ziploc bags containing crystalline substance hidden in his cellphone case. The contents also tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.
