A man was sentenced to nine years in prison for strangulation and assault while on felony release.
On Monday, the Office of the Attorney General issued a press release thanking Judge Vernon Perez for handing down a “tough sentence of nine years” to Ray David Flores Jr.
Flores was found guilty at trial on Dec. 20, 2023, of strangulation as a third-degree felony, assault as a misdemeanor and a special allegation of commission of a felony while on felony release.
According to the press release, Perez imposed the maximum jail sentences for strangulation and assault, three years and one year, respectively, with five years added for the special allegation. The maximum sentence Flores faced was 29 years.
The AG’s office said the case reflects the ongoing “catch, release and re-offend problem.”
“Deterrence occurs when judges sentence criminals to harsh jail time, sending a clear, just and strong message throughout our community that the people of Guam will catch, convict and lock up criminals,” the AG’s office said in the release.
“Criminals beware. … This AG and my select team of prosecutors will continue ‘tough on crime’ prosecutions to protect this community,” Attorney General Douglas Moylan said in the release.
Since the start of Moylan’s term last year, the office has released monthly reports detailing the number of violations committed by defendants who were on pretrial release. In the December 2023 edition of the “Catch, Release and Re-Offend Report,” 113 violations were committed, with 19 of those defendants being charged with another crime.
Moylan said, by providing the numbers, he seeks to further show why defendants should be confined pending trial.
“The AG Moylan administration will maintain its ‘Tough on Criminals’ approach, seeking to ‘lock them up’ to keep us safe,” Moylan stated in the December 2023 edition, while also consistently calling on the 37th Guam Legislature to change laws.
“We ask the Guam Legislature to remove the personal recognizance bonds, require persons where drugs are involved and with criminal histories to not be released and granting the people of Guam a speedy trial right. We at the AG’s office are standing by to help enact legislation that keeps we law-abiding people safer against criminals like the one described in the attached release,” Moylan stated in his email announcing Flores’ sentence.
Flores and co-defendant Anselmo Jose Untalan were charged in July 2023 after a male Chalan Pago resident accused the two of punching him repeatedly and threatening to kill the man with a rifle, according to court documents.
Untalan was accused of punching the victim in the face and aiming a rifle at him before the victim was forced into a vehicle and driven to an apartment where Flores was. The victim at the apartment again was punched and taken into a car, where Flores sat in the back seat with the victim.
According to court documents, Flores continued to assault the victim while the vehicle was moving and used a black tie to strangle the victim, who was going in and out of consciousness. Eventually, the men went back to the apartment, where Flores continued to assault the victim.
Flores was on pretrial release for a 2020 felony case in which he was charged with burglary as a second-degree felony, along with a special allegation of the possession or use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit burglary as a second-degree felony, and theft of property as a third-degree felony. At the time of his charging for the new case in July 2023, there was an active bench warrant for his arrest.
Source: Shane Tenorio Healy, The Guam Daily Post. Click here to view original post.