HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Police early Friday morning arrested a man on suspicion of possession of illegal drugs while he was in a vehicle identified as being stolen.
Officers with the Guam Police Department encountered James Anthony Sablan shortly before 3 a.m. Friday along Route 16 by the Guam National Guard Readiness Center, where the vehicle he was driving appeared to be stalled.
Police were there conducting a check of another stalled vehicle when they noticed the defendant’s vehicle.
“The vehicle, a Honda Odyssey, was parked next to a bus stop by Pedang Street,” a complaint filed against Sablan in the Superior Court of Guam stated.
Sablan allegedly was in the driver’s seat of the van when officers found him.
Police “conducted a check of the Honda Odyssey and learned that the vehicle had been reported stolen on Jan. 27, 2024. The defendant was then placed in handcuffs and secured in a patrol car,” the complaint said.
Officers said they advised Sablan of his rights before he allegedly divulged that drugs were in the vehicle.
“A search was conducted on the Honda, at which time (police) located and confiscated a glass pipe with suspected methamphetamine residue and a plastic baggie with suspected methamphetamine. A field test was conducted and yielded presumptive positive for methamphetamine,” the complaint said.
“Another male was also observed seated in the nearby bus stop and was identified,” according to GPD, but that individual, although named, was not charged in the complaint.
On Saturday, Sablan was charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony.
A police vehicle is parked in front of the Guam Police Department headquarters on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2023, in Tiyan.
