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NEWS: Guerrero sexually assaulted employee; AG did nothing

"I then got up from my chair and said 'ok' as I was getting up when to my surprise he leaned towards me and touched my right butt. When he did this I looked at Glenn, but he was staring down at his cellphone. I continued to stare at him, as I began towards the exit door. Glenn was just looking at his cellphone screen the entire time. I was very uncomfortable and shocked about what happened. When Commissioner Guerrero touched the right portion of my butt, I felt a grip from his left hand from the squeeze he made. Commissioner Guerrero followed me to the door to his office and said 'we'll see you tomorrow.'"


By Troy Torres


(Tumon, Guam) A Department of Public Safety employee sexually assaulted and abused by Commissioner Robert Guerrero filed a criminal complaint against him with the Office of the Attorney General nearly one year ago, and the issue was swept under the rug by Attorney General Edward Manibusan.


Kandit News Group obtained a copy of the woman's written, dated, signed, and submitted complaint she made to the OAG on January 19, 2019. The complaint details months of abuse, coercion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, verbal assault, physical assault, and retaliation for refusing advances that started with an incident involving Mr. Guerrero's son Johnny, also a DPS employee.



In August or September of 2018, according to the victim's criminal complaint, Johnny Guerrero confronted and harassed this victim, falsely accusing her of looking at other people' timesheets. Johnny Guerrero told the woman, "I'm going to tell my dad!" A week-and-a-half later, the victim received a termination letter from Mr. Guerrero.


The victim then sought a meeting with Mr. Guerrero and finally was able to see him. During that meeting in his office, in which Glenn Rabago was present, the victim asked if she was being terminated because of the issue with Johnny, and was about to tell Mr. Guerrero how her supervisor, Edgar Pangelinan, said her termination was instructed by Mr. Guerrero. Mr. Guerrero interrupted her saying, "Forget about Edgar. Forget about Johnny." He then told her she's being reassigned to his office on Capitol Hill. She tried to object, but he dismissed her objections, "I'm going to transfer you to Capitol Hill. You still want to be employed here, right," he asked her, according to her complaint.


"I then got up from my chair and said 'ok' as I was getting up when to my surprise he leaned towards me and touched my right butt. When he did this I looked at Glenn, but he was staring down at his cellphone. I continued to stare at him, as I began towards the exit door. Glenn was just looking at his cellphone screen the entire time. I was very uncomfortable and shocked about what happened. When Commissioner Guerrero touched the right portion of my butt, I felt a grip from his left hand from the squeeze he made. Commissioner Guerrero followed me to the door to his office and said 'we'll see you tomorrow.'"


Glenn Rabago was a witness to the first sexual assault, and did nothing.


The complaint further goes on to state that a table of DPS officers at a Thanksgiving event in 2018 witnessed Mr. Guerrero threaten his victim; they all did nothing.


Mr. Guerrero again assaulted her later that year and even physically restrained her as she rushed to leave his office on one occasion.


The victim tried repeatedly to be moved away from Mr. Guerrero. Each time, members of DPS management carried out retaliation against the woman by spontaneously rating her performance and threatening her job if she didn't do what Mr. Guerrero told her to do.


Certain DPS employees at the time, including Edgar Pangelinan, who last week came forward with his story of retaliation at the hands of Mr. Guerrero, tried to help the victim, but to no avail.


The victim's complaint also unwittingly corroborates Mr. Pangelinan's own story of corruption by Mr. Guerrero and his Internal Affairs Unit. Mr. Guerrero was suspicious of the woman's loyalties because Mr. Pangelinan had tried to help her to get away from Mr. Guerrero and to save her job. Mr. Guerrero told the woman he had heard that Mr. Pangelinan was going to file a complaint against him. The woman told him she was not aware of any complaint.


After the complaint had been filed, the woman was confronted by Internal Affairs Investigator Alex Sakisat, who threatened the woman to give up any information she had about Mr. Pangelinan's complaint to the Attorney General about Mr. Guerrero. "If you know anything about it, you better speak up," Mr. Sakisat told the woman.


Mr. Sakisat then walked into the woman's supervisor's office at the time, Margarette Camacho, where the two met for about half an hour. After their meeting, Ms. Camacho left and returned about an hour and a half later. She called the woman into her office, then presented her with two evaluation reports against her, both unsatisfactory. "This is your evaluation, this is from me and Juana, and if you don't agree, just sign where it says disagree and it's up to the Commissioner if he wants to continue to employ you," Ms. Camacho told the victim.


Here is the victim's written complaint, with her identifying information redacted:




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4 Comments


monkeysee
Jan 12, 2020

Visit this website for more information about your rights, how to report and document, etc.

https://www.equalrights.org/


Also see this website:

We're here to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace by your side.

BetterBrave combats sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace by empowering targets and allies with the necessary resources and tools.

https://www.betterbrave.org/


Also see this website:

By survivors, for survivors

Callisto is a non-profit that creates technology to detect repeat sexual assailants.

https://www.projectcallisto.org/


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This type of sexual harassment happens way too much out here. The problem is most people are afraid to report it. They're shamed by their own family and friends and superiors. You all know what I'm talking about. Thank you Kandit for bringing this to light. And this lady is a hero for reporting it. Hopefully more victims will come out of the shadows and be inspired by her example. If anything like this is happening to you at your work place, or even with family members and friends document everything before you report it with dates, times, and witnesses. You want to make sure you have a solid case. And don't let anyone know you are documenting them. Once…

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chizumi2013
Jan 12, 2020

AG MANIBUSAN, RESIGN, RESIGN, RESIGN!!!!!!!! You don't deserve to be in that seat. You failed the people and the entire Commonwealth! Thank you Kandit News!!! The CNMI needs to know the TRUTH! The TRUTH! The TRUTH!!!

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Some of these photos remind of that warning about cousins marrying.


Boycott the Marianas Variety.

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