
One of the biggest drug traffickers convicted in the U.S. District Court of Guam will be released from federal prison on July 16, 2025. Former President Biden commuted the sentence of Roy Cabaccang, according to a January 17, 2025 executive grant of clemency that appears in Mr. Cabaccang’s 1997 case file.
According to court records and news archives, Mr. Cabaccang and his brothers Richard and James ran a drug trafficking ring that extended from California to Guam in the 1990s. Mr. Biden also commuted Richard Cabaccang’s sentence.
In January 2017, former President Obama commuted James Cabaccang’s sentence and he was set to be released from prison in 2021. Mr. Obama reduced Roy Cabaccang’s six life sentences to two. The federal government said Roy Cabaccang was the head of the criminal enterprise.
Richard Cabaccang will be released from prison on March 18, 2025, according to the executive grant of clemency.
Both brothers will need to abide by any court-ordered supervised release conditions and other conditions imposed during their sentencing.
Mr. Biden has commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 American prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes and who have served lengthy sentences on the premise of undoing “disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”
The President, according to the Constitution, has the power to pardon criminals and to commute their sentences.