| On February 6, 2014, four masked men robbed the Bank of Guam branch facility in Yigo, the largest village on the U.S. territory of Guam. The robbers escaped with $11,000.
A week later, on February 13, 2014, Joshua Tedtaotao was arrested on a charge of burglarizing a home in Barrigada, another village on the island, on February 2, 2014. He admitted that he committed the burglary with his 18-year-old brother, Jathan, and Antonio Quitugua, and that several firearms were stolen.
Jathan was then brought in for questioning and during interrogation he admitted taking part in the residential burglary. He also told police that they took the stolen guns to their stepfather Vincent Santos.
Antonio Quitugua, the third suspect in the residential burglary, was arrested on March 1. During questioning, police said they had identified a pickup truck that looked like Quitugua’s truck on a surveillance video from the Bank of Guam branch in Yigo on the day of the robbery. Quitugua denied involvement in the February 6 bank robbery, but when shown the video, he claimed he was high on drugs on the day of the robbery and could not remember anything.
Quitugua and the Tedtaotao brothers were charged with the firearms burglary and Quitugua was separately charged with the bank robbery.
Police then questioned Jathan Tedtaotao about the bank robbery and eventually Jathan confessed that he was involved in the bank robbery with Quitugua and two other men. Consequently, Jathan was charged with second-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. Ricky McIntosh and Vincent Santos were charged with the bank robbery as well.
On May 8, 2014, Jathan pled guilty to second-degree robbery and burglary and the prosecution agreed to a nine-year prison term in return for Jathan’s testimony at the trial of his co-defendants in the bank robbery.
The bank robbery case went to trial the following week. When Jathan was called to testify, however, he refused to answer any questions. As a result, on May 14, 2014, a defense motion for a directed verdict of acquittal was granted.
In July 2014, Jathan was sentenced to 21 years in prison—more than double the sentence originally agreed to by the prosecution—because he breached the plea agreement by refusing to testify.
In January 2015, according to police, Irvin Muna White III confessed that he had committed the robbery with two other men—including his father, Jackery White—and that Jathan and the defendants who were tried for the robbery in May 2014 were not involved. Irvin and his father pled guilty to the bank robbery. The third man was later acquitted.
In April 2015, the prosecution filed a motion to vacate Jathan’s guilty plea to the bank robbery charge. On April 27, 2015, the charge was dismissed.
Asked by the Guam Superior Court judge why he pled guilty, Jathan said, “I don’t know.” In May 2015, Jathan was resentenced to five years in prison for the firearms burglary conviction.
– Maurice Possley
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