By Eric Rosario
Jesse Bockman, who is married to Guam Police officer Rachelle Benavente Bockman, wrote a lengthy and detailed version of events the early morning of June 23, 2021 that led to the July 1 arrest of his wife and her two co-workers. According to Mr. Bockman, his wife, whom he admitted had a couple of alcoholic drinks before driving that night, tried to stop her co-workers from driving because they were completely inebriated and a danger to the public behind the wheel.
He said she and he followed the women - Rhea Sanchez and Corina Paulino; that Paulino drove so recklessly on the roads she nearly hit a pedestrian; and that Paulino choked and assaulted Ms. Bockman when the couple cornered her at a residential driveway.
Mr. Bockman said that within minutes of the incident, they reported his version of events to police officers. He said no sobriety tests were administered to any of the women, despite the police officers's knowledge they all were drinking and driving. He named at least two police officers in his version of events, which he posted on Kandit's Facebook page. According to Mr. Bockman, he overheard an "Officer Wright" offer to his wife to falsify his police report in order for Ms. Bockman to avoid being held accountable.
Mr. Bockman's version of events differ wildly from information provided by the Guam Police Department about the arrests.
Kandit one week ago first asked GPD spokesman Sgt. Paul Tapao whether Ms. Bockman and two other GPD employees were arrested. Mr. Tapao was unaware of the arrest at the time. On Wednesday, Mr. Tapao released a statement confirming the arrests of the three women for "driving while impaired," and stated the police chief was made aware of the incident on June 24. There were no charges for assault, strangulation, disorderly conduct, or rioting contained in the Tapao statement.
According to the Carlina Charfauros, spokeswoman for the Office of the Attorney General of Guam, the incident occurred June 23, the police chief was made aware of the incident June 24, and the arrests were made July 1.
Kandit asked GPD several questions to fill gaps in the timeline and in this story. Mr. Bockman, meanwhile, provided the following statement:
Let me clear the air.
22 Jun 21, Rachelle and I were packing out my house getting ready for my PCS. She was invited by Rhea and Corina to go drink early in the night and she told them she can’t, we are busy, but if we finish we will meet them later.
1130 pm rolls around when we are finishing up so we decide to go meet them. We arrive at Mins karaoke at approximately 1140 pm and Rachelle orders everyone a drink. She orders a cranberry and Malibu. She finished that drink and orders another Malibu and cranberry. She drinks half of the drink.
130 am, last call, we leave. I notice her drink half full so I drink it and we go outside.
We had noticed the other females were incredibly intoxicated and we asked them not to drive. Corina gets behind the wheel and drives anyway. I tell Rachelle we need to follow them.
Corina almost hits the raised median multiple times up santos Hill, stops in the middle of the intersection at the top of the hill during a red light.
Rachelle is on the phone with them telling them to pull over. And Corina runs the red light driving towards Micronesia mall.
Light turns green and we get behind them again and she turns left by Micronesia nearly hitting a pedestrian.
They hang up the phone and continue driving at excessive speeds as it started to rain near the overpass.
We lose sight of the vehicle and Rachelle believes they might be going to Rhea’s residence. We see them near the neighborhood and Corina again takes off and “attempted to lose us” blowing through all the neighborhoods stop signs.
Rachelle did not remember exactly where Rhea lived. However we saw their vehicle at an intersection
We saw them pull into the driveway and Rachelle blocked the exit. We approached them as they exited the vehicle and Rachelle asked for the keys. Corina said “we’re not doing this again” Both of us begged her to not drive the remainder of the way home and informed her of how bad she was driving in the first place.
Corina finally placed the keys on top of the car and said take them and Rachelle grabbed the keys. Corina attempted to pry the car keys from Rachelle’s and did not succeed.
Eventually Corina reached for Rachelle’s neck to strangle her and Rachelle pushed her away. This happened a couple of times then Corina grabbed Rachelle by the hair.
Rhea and I separated the two.
Rachelle asked me to sit in her car in the event Corina tried to take her car.
Rhea I heard and saw Rheas vehicle start and drive off. Corina and Rachelle were still in front of the house. As I sat in the car I heard a loud thud and I saw Corina and Rachelle on the ground. I run over and Rachelle is telling her to stop attacking her. Again. Corina has Rachelle by the hair so I remove her hands and Rachelle is able to stand up.
Corina attacks Rachelle approximately 5-10 more times to include a bite mark on her wrist that will have a permanent scar.
We call the police and Officer Wright and 3 others show up.
We give them the run down of what happened and it started to rain on us outside. We agreed to meet at the police station and they saw Rachelle get in the drivers seat and me in the passenger seat.
We get to the police station and Officer Wright sees Rachelle get out of the drivers seat, approached her and asked what she wanted to do about the the attacks. Rachelle did not want to press charges and told another officer to take her home. And requested that she be given a ride home.
Meanwhile Rhea is missing from when she drove off, apparently has a flat tire and is not answering her phone. Rachelle tells officer Wright she is going to look for Rhea. He informs her to let him know if we find her.
Officer Wright calls Rachelle and informed her that the on duty supervisor wanted statements. So we drove back to the police department to fill out a statement. They see us arrive and see Rachelle exit the driver seat. Still no arrests or impairment seen. (Because there was none).
No sobriety tests conducted, no breathalyzer conducted. And the officer witnessed Rachelle driving on multiple occasions.
A couple days later, we are informed Highway patrol was investigating Corina for a DUI. Even then I was confused because the police officers did not witness Corina driving intoxicated.
We went to make statements at Highway patrol. We were informed THE CHIEF OF POLICE MANDATED AN INVESTIGATION BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED OF KANDIT NEWS. Multiple officers from Highway patrol stated the same including the Lead investigator Officer Laxamana. During my statement, I identified who had which drinks and they also had surveillance footage from the establishments. Or at least that’s what they said.
On 1 July 21, Rachelle was called back into Highway. When we arrived Officer Laxamana informed Rachelle that the Chief has ordered them all to be arrested.
Officer insisted Officer Wrights report was the probable cause needed to make the arrest (the same officer that witnessed her drive in multiple occasions and had normal conversations with here the evening of); wrote in his report that Rachelle was highly intoxicated and he could smell alcohol emitting from her breath and backed it by his ARIDE training.
The same officer stated in his report that he instructed me to drive. First of all, I was never instructed to drive and second of all, I I was actually drinking that evening, so if his ARIDE training was so keen, why would of I been instructed to drive.
I also overheard a conversation later between Rachelle and Officer Wright. Officer Wright informed her that in his report he was going to say she didn’t drive and told me to drive. I told her that he never said that and there is no reason to lie about this situation.
wow...im lost after the first paragraph....i thought the butler did it...