HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The trial for a former member of the governor’s Cabinet facing sexual assault charges may be delayed.
On Monday morning, Adrian Peter Cruz appeared in the Superior Court of Guam for a hearing in a case where he was charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and promoting prostitution as third-degree felonies and harassment as a petty misdemeanor.
The brief hearing consisted of Cruz’s attorney, Joaquin “Jay” Arriola Jr., stating that he received additional discovery in the case from the Office of the Attorney General and explaining he needed more time to discuss it.
Then Arriola requested the trial be continued. Judge Vernon Perez responded that he wouldn’t move the March 24 trial date until he hears from the lawyers again at a hearing scheduled for next month.
Allegations
Cruz’s charges stem from a complaint filed June 9, 2023, that alleged Cruz committed criminal sexual conduct and harassment on May 26, 2023, and promoted prostitution on May 31, 2023.
The indictment, which doesn’t provide much detail about Cruz’s alleged actions, states he committed criminal sexual conduct by intentionally engaging in sexual contact with a 17-year-old boy by touching his inner thigh and using force or coercion. Cruz allegedly committed harassment by threatening to strike, kick, shove or offensively touch the victim.
As for promoting prostitution, the charging document states Cruz “knowingly solicited a person to commit or engage in prostitution.”
At the time of Cruz’s arrest on June 10, 2023, he was employed with the government of Guam and had been serving as executive director of the Hagåtña Restoration and Redevelopment Authority. Adelup spokesperson Krystal Paco-San Agustin told The Guam Daily Post that the administration received a resignation letter from Cruz dated June 6, 2023, though Adelup didn’t receive the letter until June 10, 2023.
Before Cruz was the HRRA executive director, he had served in other roles in the administration, including as a senior policy adviser at Adelup, deputy director of the Guam Department of Agriculture, chair of the I Estoriå-ta Commission and chair of the Free Association Task Force under the Commission on Decolonization.
Adrian Cruz waits outside a courtroom at the Guam Judicial Center in Hagåtña Aug. 22, 2023.
