By Johnnie Rosario
Joey Terlaje now is under local and federal investigation for police corruption; and the Office of the Attorney General, which refuses to confirm or deny the specific investigation against him, is believed to be investigating Terlaje's past as part of a much-larger case against police corruption. At least two women have been served summons by the OAG, and at least one other was contacted. The three women have two things in common: Joey Terlaje and a barbecue they all attended in 2018.
Attorney General Leevin Camacho already has confirmed he's looking into allegations of police corruption. "[W]e can confirm that the Office of the Attorney General and Guam Police Department have been actively investigating reports of alleged misconduct among law enforcement personnel," Mr. Camacho wrote, along with police chief Stephen Ignacio, to Speaker Therese Terlaje last week.
Joey Terlaje is a now-conspicuous cog in a small part of the local law enforcement community under federal investigation, and the criminal underworld that dirty cops profited from. By all accounts, he never meant to stand out. His freedom depends on that.
Joey is the son of Sen. Jose "Pedo" Terlaje, who has oversight of the government of Guam's public safety agencies. Joey's daughter is Joneen Terlaje, the Guam Police officer, who was involved in the red Jeep crash into Jerry's Kitchen.
The senator and his granddaughter's transgressions need not underscore the reason Joey Terlaje is under investigation for corruption. This isn't as Shakespeare warned in The Merchant of Venice that "The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children."
Joey Terlaje is a powerful figure in local law enforcement. Not only does he have children in nearly every law enforcement agency locally, and a brother at the Guam Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, he was himself a deputy marshal at the Judiciary of Guam. One of his best friends was Jesse Blas, the disgraced ex-mayor of Yona, who now is a convicted federal felon.
Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Rafael Fernandez last year testified twice in Mr. Blas's federal trial that Joey Terlaje was connected to a cabal of corrupt law enforcement officers under federal investigation.
Mr. Fernandez testified under cross examination by Blas's attorney that Joey Terlaje was at a 2018 barbecue at Blas's home, when Blas dragged and abducted his then-girlfriend Vickilyn Manglona (Teregeyo) into a room in his home, beat her, and kept her locked up for three days.
Ms. Manglona, who has since relocated, said Joey Terlaje helped Blas in the abduction, and in holding her down while Blas beat her. It was her testimony to the FBI and recorded phone conversations with Blas that led to the mayor's downfall, and new evidence against Joey Terlaje involving his role in police corruption.
During the Judiciary corruption oversight hearing last week, when written testimony by the attorney general and the police chief to Speaker Therese Terlaje revealed a local investigation into police corruption, Joey Terlaje's father, Sen. Pedo Terlaje, asked court officials whether Ms. Manglona ever filed a complaint against his son.
Sen. Pedo Terlaje used the occasion to insinuate Ms. Manglona was lying about her testimony against his son simply because she had not filed a complaint against him. Court officials said nothing. No senator thought to ask whether Ms. Manglona had filed a criminal complaint against Joey Terlaje.
She did. Nearly three years ago. With the Guam Police Department.
GPD's Office of the Chief of Police has not responded to Kandit's request for information on the disposition of this case as of the writing of this story.
Now, nearly three years later, investigators within the OAG have contacted three women, who were present at the party, when Ms. Manglona was abducted and physically assaulted.
It is important to note that one of Joey Terlaje's brothers is a police officer within the GPD CID. One of Joey Terlaje's sons is a police reservist.
We can all do the math on this one. Thank goodness for Attorney General Leevin T. Camacho.
On Feb. 1, 2019, a police complaint was filed alleging corruption at the Guam Office of Attorney General (AGO). The complaint alleged illegal double dipping at the AGO, and complicity therewith. I am Joseph A. Guthrie, a 16-year veteran of the Office of Attorney General who was deputy attorney general between 2003 and 2006, and I am the person who submitted the police complaint. The police complaint alleged that attorney Philip J. Tydingco committed the misdemeanors of official misconduct, unsworn falsification, and false statement related to GovGuam retirement – and that attorneys John Patrick "Pat" Mason, Alicia Limtiaco, ALBERTO TOLENTINO, John Weisenberger, and Leonardo Rapadas were complicit in all or some of these crimes. The police complaint further alleged that…
CONTINUED FROM ABOVE
On Jan. 3, 2007, Mason signed a contract between himself and AG's office. The contract purported to be an independent contract, but Mason knew it to be a sham contract, insofar as the services of deputy attorney general contemplated to be provided under the contract by the signatories could – under applicable statute, temporary law, and personnel rule – only be legally provided by an unclassified employee, and not an independent contractor. The contract was also a sham contract because no Request for Proposal soliciting the interest of other potential independent contractors was issued before the contract was signed, contrary to the Guam Procurement Law. From Jan. 2, 2007 to Sept. 17, 2014, Mason performed the…