The Guam Police Department has two internal investigations ongoing, one involving a police officer who tested positive for methamphetamine and another for an officer who is believed to have been involved in operating an illegal gambling operation.

On Tuesday morning, officials from the department appeared for an oversight hearing before the 37th Guam Legislature.

However, the hearing did not go according to plan in terms of following agenda items because Sen. Chris Barnett, the oversight chair of GPD, after the agenda was set discussed two recent incidents involving police officers.

The first of the two incidents involved an officer testing positive for methamphetamine and the second related to the unsealing of an application for a warrant in the U.S. District Court of Guam which revealed Officer Jesse San Nicolas was being investigated for running an illegal gambling operation in 2020.

Meth

Barnett started the hearing by discussing media reports that stated a “longtime officer” recently tested positive for methamphetamine after a glass pipe was found in a GPD patrol vehicle during a shift change.

The unnamed officer, Barnett said, was subsequently tested for drugs, showing a positive result for methamphetamine.

Chief of Police Stephen Ignacio responded there was an investigation being conducted in the case that is “no more than 30 days old.”

“There is an Internal Affairs investigation that was launched regarding the discovery of drug paraphernalia inside a patrol vehicle, and we’ve narrowed it down and conduct(ed) testing. One of the officers did test positive, so that case is under investigation. I can’t say nothing beyond that at this point,” said Ignacio.

Since internal investigations involve government personnel matters, Ignacio said, he could not explain more. However, Barnett asked several questions regarding the general procedures GPD has in place regarding drug-testing employees.

Ignacio said uniformed officers are in a test-designated position, which means they are subject to random drug testing, but drug tests can and are conducted based on “reasonable suspicion,” such as in this case, Ignacio said, or before officers are employed.

Sweeps for drugs were conducted at all the police precincts, Ignacio said, and yielded negative results.

Barnett followed up by asking if Ignacio would be conducting drug testing for the rest of GPD, but Ignacio responded that the Department of Administration is responsible for administering the Drug-Free Workplace Program.

“As a line agency, I am subjected to the Department of Administration. … In other words, I want to do drug testing, but all coordination has to be made from the Department of Administration’s personnel services,” said Ignacio.

Sen. Telo Taitague then asked if Ignacio had looked at separating from DOA to ensure GPD could conduct drug testing on its own. Ignacio confirmed a discussion with DOA would need to be established, but, upon being asked by Taitague whether a law change could be a resolution, Ignacio said it would.

Taitague then made a recommendation to Barnett to introduce a bill to change the law to allow GPD to conduct drug testing.

“Already … working on it,” Barnett responded.

Gambling

Before holding further discussions on agenda items for the oversight hearing, Barnett inquired with Ignacio about the unsealed federal document relating to the investigation of San Nicolas, who was in the Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, unit in 2020, on allegations of illegal gambling. Recently, another unsealed document revealed an officer, Brian Awa, was being investigated by federal authorities on allegations of drug trafficking. Awa has since been fired from GPD.

“These types of revelations (are) a black eye to the fine men and women who work hard in blue. So I just have to ask is there any update on this? … Similar events have happened. I know there were other federal documents that were unsealed that led to another officer’s termination,” Barnett asked.

Ignacio said he was notified of the investigation into San Nicolas in 2020 and an internal investigation was open but “unfortunately,” Ignacio said, San Nicolas was on long-term military deployment. Internal investigations by law have a deadline of 90 days, and since there is no temporary stay option on the investigations, Ignacio said the case was closed with no consequences for San Nicolas.

Fast-forward to earlier this month, the unsealed documents named San Nicolas. However, there were other officers mentioned, but only by their initials. Ignacio said he has been working with the U.S. Secret Service, which conducted the investigation, to confirm the identities of the officers.

Despite waiting for confirmation of the officers’ identities, Ignacio said GPD is continuing the internal investigation, which began on the day the records were unsealed.

“I have to work with factual information. That means I have to work with the Secret Service for it to be able to identify those officers for me. … Because there’s three additional officers, of course an investigation has to be started based on the time the documents were unsealed,” said Ignacio, who confirmed no officers have come forward to say they were involved in any gambling operation.

Ignacio then said that until he learns the names or indictments are handed down, there isn’t much else for the internal investigation to consider aside from the unsealed documents.

“We’re too early to predetermine the outcome, and we just have to deal with the investigation and my determination is how to move forward after all the facts have been given to me. And the most important fact that I need is (the names of) the officers that were involved in the scheme based on the three initials that were provided,” said Ignacio.

“I’m just dealing with an unsealed document,” Ignacio added.