Through his unimaginable grief after losing his mother to a senseless murder, Sammiyen Lairopi is expressing his concern for his fellow Guamanians, who are enduring one tragic act of violence after another throughout the island.
His mother, Sumittra Lairopi, was shot and killed as she was leaving a dinner with friends outside the restaurant where she worked on February 14 this year. Sammiyen, who lives in the mainland U.S., was off island when he was told the heartbreaking news.
“[S]tay safe out there wherever you are,” Sammiyen said Wednesday, when Kandit asked him if there was anything he wanted to say to his fellow Guamanians about the tragedy. “The island is changing. What happened to my mom could happen again to anybody. It most likely won’t be the last incident.”
The Guam Police Department arrested two suspects shortly after Ms. Lairopi died. Both have been charged in the case. Domingo Mendiola was charged with her murder, and Jenna Manibusan was charged with her alleged complicity to the murder. According to the initial charging documents, a witness to the conspiracy said Mr. Mendiola planned to rob someone in order to pay a drug debt. Police found methamphetamine in the car the pair allegedly left behind when they allegedly stole Ms. Lairopi’s car after the murder. He also faces a drug possession charge.
“Like our current billboard says, its a criminal that makes a crime victim, and each one of us could be next,” Attorney General Douglas Moylan said, reinforcing Sammiyen’s concern for Guamanians to be vigilant in this time of increasing violent crime. “There is nothing clearer to understand what harm the Catch, Release & Reoffend Problem means, than for you to become a crime victim.”
“Catch, Release & Reoffend,” is a moniker Mr. Moylan introduced at the start of his term in 2023 to describe a problem he sees in the criminal justice system: Police arrest suspects, judges release those suspects on personal recognizance while they await trial, and during that time these suspects are back in the community, they commit other crimes. The attorney general has published monthly reports showing suspects on pre-trial release allegedly and repeatedly committing new crimes.
Mr. Mendiola is no stranger to the criminal justice system. According to a headcount report of the Department of Corrections on September 7, 2022, he was an inmate at DOC and had been there since November 25, 2015. Kandit’s archive of criminal charges did not start until late 2018.
“Meth addicts, and dealers, are at the heart of most of the crimes I am seeing committed in our daily GPD and Customs’ officer arrests,” Mr. Moylan said, adding in hopes of at least somewhat assuaging Sammiyen’s faltering hope in the criminal justice system, “Our approach will continue and be stepped up in our attack upon meth addicts that the best place for them is simply in prison to protect we law-abiding people. If they need rehab, they will get it the hard way detoxing in a prison cell, and with the help of the Courts remaining there for a very long time.”
The attorney general, however, said he can only do so much, and he needs senators to start changing laws in order to help resolve the crime problem.
“[W]e are seeking out brave senators willing to work with this law enforcement office to pass laws that decisively protect the people of Guam, such as the people’s speedy trial right, and eliminating personal recognizance bonds, and requiring the courts to use a more strict scrutiny test on drug possession cases and repeat criminal offenders,” he said. “This would address the increasing Catch, Release & Reoffend Problem that the courts have the ability to stop, especially in pretrial magistrate release hearings, or in simply have a zero tolerance program to revoke probation post judgment.”
He said his drug prosecutor is working on legislation “to address why the courts are suspending third degree felony drug possession cases under our current laws. There is a presumption for mandatory incarceration, like the 48 hour DUI law, but the courts are suspending sentence apparently under a loophole in the law.”
“The AG’s Office agrees whole-heartedly with the Valentine’s Day victim’s family,” Mr. Moylan said. “The meth epidemic has turned into a scourge that has caused us to find alternate ways to protect our community. Those include not only the messaging reminding people of their right of self-defense and defense of others, but to put fear into the violent meth addicts that this AG encourages their victims to defend themselves, even if that includes deadly force against those meth addicts. We are also looking at securing and using federal funds to curb the demand-side of the equation, and also working with local and Federal law enforcement to root out the meth suppliers.”
In the meantime, Sammiyen Lairopi did leave Kandit with one more message for the people of Guam: “Thank you to everyone for their love and support.”
