Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena III earlier this month granted Douglas Moylan’s request for him to sentence a convicted pedophile to the maximum 25 years in prison for raping three girls over a nine year period. The girls were 11, 12, and 12 when the rapes started.
Amrocio Teves, 57, pleaded guilty to the charges against him from a 2021 indictment.
“This tough sentence is the type of law and order prosecutions that will either deter crime, or simply lock up those who inflict such heinous crimes upon our most vulnerable persons in our community, our children,” Mr. Moylan said in a news release this evening.
The attorney general, however, is not satisfied that Guam’s criminal statutes measure up to a standard of justice that will protect children in the future.
“We urge the Guam Legislature to require life without the possibility of parole,” Mr. Moylan said. “Pedophiles deserve prison, and not to get out to devastate other children.”
Mr. Moylan has written this request to senators several times since taking office in January 2023, however no senator has introduced a bill in this regard. Chris Barnett, however, has introduced legislation that would mandate life sentences for certain tiers of drug trafficking. That proposal has drawn criticism, among them that senators should be mandating life sentences for pedophiles first.
Mr. Teves is a Philippine citizen, according to Mr. Moylan, and may qualify for deportation now that he is convicted.
“He’s now on our deportation list back to the Philippines,” the attorney general said, adding “[we are] working with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for a detainer. We will work with the victims to decide when he should be deported.”
Those three victims were instrumental in the judge’s decision to issue the maximum sentence possible under the law, according to Mr. Moylan.
“Presiding Judge Lamorena took into account the live testimony of the three victims at the sentencing hearing,” he said. “The victims expressed how this pedophile’s – Teves – sex crimes robbed them of their childhood and will affect them for the rest of their lives. We thank these three girls’ bravery & courage in being ready to testify against this pedophile at trial, and their saving other children from the type of harm that pedophile Ambrocio Teves inflicted upon them.”
In related correspondence to senators, the attorney general again asked for legislative reform of criminal justice procedures that will allow the government to invoke speedy trial rights, reminding senators that child rape cases are especially difficult to prosecute.
“Pedophilia is not only hard to detect and uncover, but is just as hard to have the child victims testify at trial,” Mr. Moylan wrote to senators. “The shorter the time between a child reporting the crime and the trial, the higher the probability the child will testify and the jury will find guilt.”
No senator has replied to the attorney general’s message as of the publication of this story.
This conviction is the latest in a string of prosecution take downs of people charged with raping women and children. Christine Tenorio, head of the AG’s sex crimes division, prosecuted the case. Grant Olan argued at sentencing.
Mr. Moylan also thanked his investigator, Keane Pangelinan, and his victim advocate Roshjay Mantanona for helping with the case.
