GPD confirms investigation into two cops


Two Guam Police Department officers are under investigation after a judge called out their conflicting testimonies in a criminal trial.

Officers Chris Champion and Benjamin Cruz are named in an April 1 decision and order from Judge Vernon Perez that suppressed the admission of evidence in a case involving drugs and an illegal firearm. Judge Perez, in the decision and order, noted the two police officers’s differing accounts of the arrest of Benny Nauta, Jr.

“[T]he investigation regarding conflicting statements between two officers (is) on going,” police spokeswoman Berlyn Savella confirmed to Kandit.

Chris Champion

The judge suppressed the evidence – obtained from a January 2, 2020 car search – following a traffic stop for a defective license light that day that led to a search of Nauta’s car. That search led to Nauta’s arrest after police found a revolver, and a meth pipe with suspected meth residue in it. Mr. Nauta moved to throw out the evidence and, thus, the charges, telling the court he twice denied the officers their request to search his car.

“The Court, however, is unable to ascertain whether Defendant actually gave informed and voluntary consent to a search of his vehicle,” Mr. Perez wrote in his decision and order. “Both Officer Cruz and Officer Champion testified that Defendant objected at first to the request to search the truck.”

According to the background Judge Perez gave in his decision and order, Mr. Cruz pulled over Mr. Nauta for a defective license plate light and expired registration decal. He then noticed there was an adult passenger and four children in the front seat of a single cab pickup truck. Mr. Nauta did not have a driver’s license. The cop asked the defendant to step out of the truck, then patted him down for weapons or drugs. He found none. He then asked Mr. Nauta if he had any illegal drugs or weapons, to which he denied.

“Officer Cruz asked Defendant if he could search the vehicle, to which Defendant responded no,” Mr. Perez wrote.

Mr. Cruz did not allow him to leave the scene and told him to call for a ride. His parents showed up. Other officers began to show up as well; Cruz would not let Nauta leave the scene and told Nauta to wait. He did not give Mr. Nauta a reason for the delay.

About an hour later, Mr. Champion showed up (the last cop to arrive).

“Defendant testified that Officer Champion asked him to search his vehicle, to which Defendant again responded no,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Defendant testified that after Officer Champion asked Defendant the second time, he told him that if he let him search the vehicle that he would not be arrested, that he would be able to be picked up and go home. Defendant testified that was why he agreed to let Officer Champion search the vehicle. Defendant testified that he was hesitant at first because he did not want to agree, but said yes after Officer Champion said ‘you just got to trust me.’ Defendant testified that Officer Champion asked him three to four times to search the vehicle.”

The two police officers, under separate testimony before the court, pointed at each other on the accusation one or both of them caused an illegal search of Mr. Nauta’s vehicle.

“The Officers … gave conflicting testimony as to how Defendant subsequently changed his mind and consented to a search of the truck,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Officer Cruz testified that Defendant did not change his mind until he spoke with Officer Champion, and Officer Champion testified that Defendant changed his mind after further speaking with Officer Cruz.”

If Mr. Nauta’s version of events is true, then it was Mr. Champion, who illegally manipulated consent of the vehicle search.

“Defendant testified that he objected to the search and only consented after Officer Champion promised him that he would not get in trouble or arrested if he consented to the search,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Not only does Defendant’s testimony conflict with the officers, but the officers’ testimonies conflict with each other. Accordingly, the Government has not proven voluntary consent by a preponderance of the evidence and any evidence seized from Defendant’s truck must be suppressed.”

Reliance on police testimony now in question

“This decision and order now raises questions about the testimonies these two officers may have made in the past, and certainly will raise doubts on any testimony they give in the future,” an attorney commented on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Champion was the subject of a police investigation last year regarding his conduct in the matter of the red Jeep that crashed into Jerry’s Kitchen. The former member of the now-disgraced Mandana Drug Task Force was the responding officer on the scene, which involved a well-connected Guam Police Department officer, whose father is under criminal indictment on allegations he abused his power in law enforcement.

Several members of the Mandana Drug Task Force have been subjects of various investigations related to criminal and administrative misconduct. The task force was created by former Lt. Gov. Ray Tenorio, a former cop who was on trial himself for grabbing a police officer’s gun at a crowded Tumon block party in the summer of 2018. That encounter led to his humiliating defeat by now-Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero in November that year. He fled Guam to live in a small North Carolina town shortly after he was acquitted in 2019.

Police Chief Stephen Ignacio disbanded the Mandana Drug Task Force in the months following Tenorio’s departure after multiple reports of police corruption were lodged against some of its members.


1 Comments

  • Stephen Sun

      08/14/2022 at 12:36 AM

    This Champion Cop has also bothered me during the sale of my property in Tamuning using various methods and people all to the benefit of my Chinese real Estate Agent Ellen Wikinson. During my 90 day escrow the two one a professionally licensed Realtor and the other an officer of the law. He used Cheryl Brewer to cause a fight between Susanne Baker and Danielle Baza at 5:30am andndroves by in a dually GPD pickup. He and Ray Tenorio then arranges for Officer Verala and Cynthia Ferrjan to take reports on Andrew Terlaje and others who used their real names to cash $500 dollar checks
    Andrew Terlaje is a son of Pido Terlaje. BTW I don’t know these people and it is my understanding not one has been arrested, besides myself for which I am looking forward toy court hearing next month.
    Champion arranges for VIkilynn Teragayo who I met once before to help her move from NCS road to the Mayor of Yona Jesse Blas. In doing so Jesse Blas lied toe about being the Mayor, some one taught this 18 yr old girl, VIkilynn how to make a proper fire. She took a deep fryer filled with gallons of oil and place dit on top of a stove top set to high. She then broke out all the windows on the first floor unit.
    A similar fire can be seen in a condo owned by Telo Taitague behind DFS in Tumon as a an insurance claim, sort of a kick back from Ray Tenorio and Ronald’s Su millions of dollars gained from their illegal efforts in removing DFS from airport and replacing with Lotte plus tje sale of his recently acquired Okura hotel to Lotte Hotel. Those profits has allowed Ray Tenorio to buy tje commercial building next door lto my Laundromat and ran bars with it and had his people and cops sell meth on my property.
    The huge amounts of money per drug dealer the Mandana taskforce busts is shared amongst themselves and incentivizes them to continue robbing drug dealers for the saying goes “half your stash and half your cash.” Cops will keep the cash, but the drug they’ll pit back on the street through their informants who acts like they are above the law until their egos makes them a liability and either gets killed or setup to face long term sentences. On tue streets good people who borrows with interest, pays back what they owe can nit compete with another who has a huge advantage. Like a snitch whos costs is zero and doesn’t need to pay back will anihilate the competition who has actual expenses and cost of goods sold. Payless without needing to pay 5% grt or tobacco sin tax has brought up the family where they are now.

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