By Troy Torres
Not too many people knew who Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo was before the trial of ex-Yona mayor Jesse Blas. There weren't many people who knew she was his girlfriend. And there were fewer people who knew that, one day, in 2018, during a barbecue at his home...
He kidnapped her.
He beat her.
He threatened her life.
He locked her in a room for three days.
And Joey Terlaje - who was a marshal at the time - helped him to do these things to her.
This is the account Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo gave to Guam Police officers at the Office of Chief of Police J.I. Cruz in what would become Criminal Case #2018-2283.
"There were two cops there and they had me write my statement and sign it in Tiyan," Ms. Teregeyo said. "They brought me to a place I think it's called CID where all the murders are investigated, and that was it. I never heard from them again," she said.
No local arrest has been made in the case. No local charge has ever been filed. No one has ever been indicted. And the statute of limitations is about to run out on the case.
The case would and should have been assigned to GPD's Domestic Assault Response Team, or DART. The problem? According to internal rosters, Joey Terlaje's brother - police officer Joel Terlaje - was a member of that unit. So was Joey Terlaje's pari, Gene Charfauros, who led the unit.
"I told [the police] about everything," the woman told Kandit. "I told them about Jesse. I told them about Joey. I told them everything. And they didn't do anything"
The allegations Ms. Teregeyo made which, three years later have yet to see the light of day in a local court, appeared first in the federal corruption trial of Jesse Blas. It was in that trial, where Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Rafael Fernandez revealed the story of the 2018 barbecue attended by local court marshals and probation officers, including Joey Terlaje, at Jesse Blas's residence in Yona. Mr. Fernandez revealed that Joey Terlaje was the subject of a federal corruption probe, and that Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo kidnapped, assaulted, and unlawfully detained and enslaved by Blas and others for three days.
Two probation officers who were at the barbecue - women, who were personally connected to Joey Terlaje - were fired by the local Judiciary following the revelation of the crimes in federal court.
"Jesse called me the day after I went to the police about him, and he said, 'The cops were just here,'" she told Kandit. "Like he wanted me to know he knew."
After waiting a few days for even the fraction of justice and protection she prayed would come from the Guam Police Department, Ms. Teregeyo despaired. Mr. Blas had always told her that if she ever said anything about the abuse, no one would believe her. He dismissed her as a drug addict. He told her and showed her his deep connections with law enforcement officers throughout the government of Guam's public safety agencies, himself being a former cop and marshal. He demonstrated his ability to get away with crime by calling friends within agencies to call off searches for criminals with warrants, or to perform favors for the powerful in the underworld in and outside of prison. She was powerless to him, and he wanted her to know that.
According to her, she wanted the police to know that, too, after he and Joey Terlaje kidnapped, assaulted, and detained her. She had enough. And not only is this story of hers corroborated by the sworn statement of an FBI special agent in a federal trial... the hell Jesse Blas put her through, and at least some of the crimes he committed against her and others was unwittingly listed by him in a phone conversation Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo secretly recorded after she decided the police were covering up for their friends:
I asked Vickilyn why she secretly recorded that conversation with the mayor.
"Because I knew no one would believe me without it," she said.
Blas now is serving a federal court sentence for his part in a drug trafficking corruption scheme, where he abused his public office. Evidence obtained by the FBI in that investigation, and in investigations resulting from probes into drug traffickers Ben Rios, Audrey "Redd" Wolford, and Eric Aponik, and the takedown of ex-cop John "Boom" Mantanona have led to a major public and police corruption case against Joey Terlaje and others.
Joey Terlaje is the father of Guam Police officer Joneen Terlaje, who on February 25 was involved in the destruction of Jerry's Kitchen in Tamuning. The Guam Police Department still hasn't done a damn thing to hold her accountable.
Joey Terlaje also is the son of public safety chairman Sen. Jose "Pedo" Terlaje, a retired cop himself. On March 3, 2021, in an oversight hearing triggered by the federal trial implication of local court marshals and probation officers in corruption, Sen. Terlaje tried to smear Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo's name in his questioning of the court's officers. This man, having a clear conflict of interest, used his office to probe court officials about criminal allegations against his son, while insinuating his abused accuser was a liar.
The other senators just sat there. They said nothing. No one tried to stop him. No one admonished him. No stood up for Vickilyn Manglona Teregeyo. Not even the media.
Joey Terlaje remains a free man. Today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Joey. May Justice give you what's yours on this special year of yours.
