The administrator of Civil Defense faces charges that he strangled his girlfriend and urinated on her clothes in a Washington, D.C. hotel room.
Charles Esteves, the island’s longtime head of the critical Office of Civil Defense and also a lieutenant colonel in the Guam National Guard, was arrested in Guam yesterday by U.S. Marshals. He was briefly detained on a warrant of arrest stemming from an assault charge filed in the U.S. Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Federal judge Michael Bordallo in Guam released Mr. Esteves from jail today and scheduled a hearing Tuesday regarding his extradition to Washington, D.C.
The embattled government director – also facing local corruption charges in a separate case brought earlier this year by Attorney General Douglas Moylan – was charged in the nation’s capital on May 1 this year with assaulting a woman on March 23 inside the Washington Hilton. At the time of the alleged assault, the woman was his girlfriend and mother of his seven-month-old child. The Washington court issued a warrant for his arrest on the same day, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosetta San Nicolas of the Guam office.
In the public federal document petitioning for Mr. Esteves’ removal from Guam to Washington, D.C., the affidavit in support of Mr. Esteves’ arrest warrant submitted to the D.C. Court was attached. It provides a brief description of the allegations against him.
Mr. Esteves and his then-girlfriend were staying at the Washington Hilton between March 22 to March 23 this year, according to the D.C. detective who prepared the affidavit. They “traveled to D.C. for a conference that was later canceled.”
According to governor’s director of communications Krystal Paco-San Agustin, Mr. Esteves paid for his own trip and hotel stay during this event. According to the Office of Civil Defense’s spokeswoman, Mr. Esteves was on personal leave at the time of the incident.
“At approximately 0300 hours on March 23, 2025, while in bed, the victim and defendant had a conversation during which she mentioned occasionally faking orgasms,” the affidavit states. “This angered the defendant, who while yelling at the victim, straddled her as she was laying down on her back on the. Bed. The defendant began to pull her hair, and placed both hands around her neck, and began to choke the victim causing minor paid and redness.”
According to the affidavit, Mr. Esteves threatened to kill her family, urinated on the bed and her clothing, and attempted to damage the hotel room further. At some point during the alleged altercation, she began to secretly record the incident with her phone.
“Detectives reviewed the video recorded by the victim,” the affidavit goes on to state. “In the recording, the victim is heard asking the suspect, ‘Why did you pull my hair? Why did you slap me?’ and repeatedly telling the defendant to stop. The defendant is heard asking, ‘Why do you have to fake [****]ing c[*]m?’ The victim also says, ‘You are hurting me, stop hurting me,’ to which the defendant responds, ‘I don’t [****]ing care.’”
According to the affidavit, the victim flew back to Washington, D.C. with her child and mother, to press charges against Mr. Esteves. She walked into the Third District Police Station in Washington, D.C. on April 11 to file her complaint.
“The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense (GHS-OCD) are aware of the situation,” GHS-OCD spokeswoman Jenna Gaminde Blas said in a written statement. “GHS-OCD continues normal operations at this time and remains committed to upholding the integrity of our mission. No further comment will be made while the matter proceeds through the appropriate legal channels.”
Kandit asked who the acting administrator of civil defense will be if Mr. Esteves is extradited to Washington, D.C., and whether the Guam homeland security advisor will begin administrative action against Mr. Esteves.
Ms. Gaminde Blas did not reply to either question.
Kandit, however, has learned from public documents that Mr. Esteves has been on military leave nearly all this month. Governor’s chief of staff Jon Junior Calvo, according to a May 6, 2025, letter from acting Homeland Security Advisor Lucia Perez to Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, is the acting civil defense administrator.
