The lone bystander eye witness to the February 25, 2021 infamous crash of a red Jeep into Jerry’s Kitchen said the driver was a muscular woman with tattoos.
Nakita Aguon, the woman Attorney General Leevin Camacho charged with a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge in the case, does not have any visible tattoos. In fact, Ms. Aguon was wearing a black long-sleeve blouse that evening, according to surveillance footage retrieved from the Venue nightclub. That is where she and three other women, who were occupants of the Jeep, were last seen before the crash.
Guam Police Department investigators tasked to the second investigation of the case, according to testimony given in Ms. Aguon’s trial, said they did review the surveillance footage, but they did not interview the lone eye witness: Ruthy Pachemwai.
Mr. Pachemwai was the on-duty G4S security guard at the plaza, where Jerry’s Kitchen is located, the early morning of the crash. According to one of the responding police officers, Mr. Pachemwai said the woman who exited the driver’s seat immediately after the crash “had tattoos” and a muscular build. Mr. Pachemwai is expected to be called as a witness in the trial.
The defense’s theory of the case is twofold: That Ms. Aguon was not the driver, and that she was charged as the patsy in the case in a conspiracy between the attorney general and corrupt police officers to protect their own.
Among the occupants of the vehicle was GPD officer Joneen Terlaje, whose family is well-connected. Her grandfather is Sen. Jose “Pedo” Terlaje, and her father is former marshal and deputy director of corrections Joey Terlaje. Joey Terlaje was named by an FBI agent as a person of interest in a corruption conspiracy during the trial of disgraced former Yona Mayor Jesse Blas. Joey Terlaje was later indicted in local court on allegations he helped to victimize a woman with Mr. Blas. The judge in the case dismissed the charges with prejudice after the attorney general failed to contact the victim in the case so she could testify in open court.
Ms. Terlaje does not have any visible tattoos, and was wearing a white tank top the night of the crash, according to surveillance footage. According to testimony by officer Scott Arceo, Ms. Terlaje was the person, who gave officers responding to the crash the driver’s license for Ms. Aguon that morning. Among the responding officers was Chris Champion, who did not administer any field sobriety test, and ended up releasing the four women with a traffic ticket. In a subsequent investigation, which police chief Stephen Ignacio was forced to call following public outcry over the initial police response, Mr. Champion refused to answer investigators’s questions and invoked his right to be represented by an attorney. This also was according to Mr. Arceo’s testimony.
The other two occupants of the Jeep the night of the crash were Tracy Matanane and Ayesha Barcinas. Ms. Barcinas is the woman in the photo posted here with tattoos on her arm.
