Guam's civil defense chief, four others summoned to answer graft charges

Senator says GovGuam losing credibility with the feds due to fund misuse

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Five employees of the Guam Homeland Security Office/Office of Civil Defense, including its head, who have been indicted over payroll anomalies, were summoned to appear in court to answer charges lodged by the Office of the Attorney General.

The Superior Court of Guam ordered Civil Defense Administrator Charles Esteves, along with Marie Elizabeth T. Quenga, Patrick T. Leon Guerrero, Joel R. Valenzuela and Michael U. Taijeron to appear before Magistrate Judge Sean E. Brown at the Northern Court Satellite at 2 p.m. on May 1.

They were indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on misdemeanor charges of "certifying officer malfeasance," official misconduct and crime against the community. Quenga is facing an additional charge of tampering with public records as a third-degree felony for allegedly falsifying government documents. 

According to court filings, Quenga “did certify that payroll timesheets were correct and ready for payment in accordance with federal and Guam laws, when in fact the payroll amounts were not accurate and exceeded the amounts appropriated by the Guam legislature.”

GHS/OCD is a federally funded office under the Office of the Governor of Guam.

Sen. Shawn Gumataotao asked the governor's office “to intervene and ensure that federal funds to our key emergency management agency are not further compromised.”

“This development is yet another example of the erosion of credibility of the government of Guam with our federal partners. We must do better in all of our respective roles,” he added.

The charges stemmed from the Office of Public Accountability’s Jan. 2 audit report, which questioned $2.8 million in overtime costs incurred by the federally funded GHS/OCD.

The audit, which covered overtime costs from fiscal years 2018 to 2023, found three areas of concern related to overtime payments: lack of authorization, over-expenditure and lack of documentation.

OPA auditors found that 10 GHS/OCD employees incurred $1.8 million in overtime payments from fiscal years 2018 to 2023 and the total for three highest-paid employees made up 50 percent of the total cost.

Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the government's communications director, said the Office of the Governor "is reviewing the charges and will take appropriate action as necessary to ensure appropriate monitoring and supervision during pendency of the action.”

She said GHS/OCD operations “will continue uninterrupted and the agency will remain responsive to the needs of the government and our people.”

In a previous report released in June 2024, the OPA noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency placed grant restrictions on GHS/OCD due to its repeated noncompliance with federal guidelines and regulations.

“These noncompliance issues were caused by the lack of consistent GHS/OCD leadership and a qualified fiscal and grants management team,” the OPA said.

Indictment.pdf

Download PDF • 500KB

Subscribe to

our digital

monthly edition