Las Vegas Sun

April 23, 2024

Guam Homeland Security official sentenced for mailing meth from Las Vegas

HAGATNA, Guam — A Guam Homeland Security supervisor has been sentenced for mailing methamphetamine to his workplace, a report said.

Ricky Q. Sanchez, 42, was sentenced Monday to serve 30 months in prison, The Pacific Daily News reported Tuesday.

Sanchez pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Sanchez was involved in a plan to mail two packages of meth from Las Vegas to Guam's Homeland Security headquarters in Agana Heights in 2014, authorities said.

Sanchez was in Las Vegas training for his job when the first package of 27.4 grams of pure meth was misaddressed and intercepted by authorities.

After the first package failed to arrive, Sanchez sent the correct address to mainland supplier Francisco Arias, who mailed another package to the correct Homeland Security address.

Sanchez told investigators there was also meth in the second package, which never was seized, court records said.

It was "pretty damn stupid," public defender John Gorman said during the sentencing hearing. "The facts look bad. We don't dispute that."

Gorman argued Sanchez must care for a disabled son, has personal medical problems and has complied with pre-trial release requirements since 2016.

Legislative and municipal officials who have known Sanchez for years also requested leniency.

U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood rejected Gorman's request for an 18-month sentence.

"You were in a trusted position," Tydingco-Gatewood told Sanchez, an operations supervisor who worked at Homeland Security for 13 years.

Meth supplier Arias was separately sentenced to life in prison, records said.