by Nick Delgado

Guam - Two men believed to be major players in the illegal drug trade on Guam are now behind bars, accused of kidnapping and torturing a man.

A missing pound of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of more than $2 million is believed to be what led two men to kidnapping and torturing a man for more than ten hours. Convicted felons Mateo Blanco Sardoma, Jr. and Rudy Paul Hernandez Sablan face a slew of criminal charges including kidnapping, continuing criminal enterprise, aggravated assault, and felonious restraint. Both are being held behind bars on $500,000 cash bail each.

Assistant Attorney General Nelson Werner said, "The defendant faces 20 to life for the continuing criminal enterprise charge as well as 10 to 25 for kidnapping."

Sablan was on pre-trial release at the time of the alleged kidnapping and torture and prosecutors are concerned about the safety of the victim. "There is a high risk to the victim - in this case its alleged there were deadly weapons used, a gun, taser, handcuffs and a knife and the victim suffered seriously bodily injury to the point of torture and they threatened to kill him," Werner further said.

Court documents spell out the horrific story of a subcontractor who was installing cabinets at Sardoma's Dededo home on Monday when he was accused of stealing a pound of crystal meth. For more than ten hours, the victim - an admitted drug user - detailed how Sablan, Sardoma and another man who was not charged and was only identified in court documents as "Chris", beat and tortured him in hopes to find the missing drugs.

The victim told police he was punched, handcuffed, taken to a house on a ranch where he was gagged with his mouth taped shut and held at gunpoint while the men questioned him about the drugs. Repeatedly begging for his life, Sardoma allegedly shot at the man's wrist. It was a blank but he threatened the next shot would be real. The victim's teeth were knocked out and he was tasered multiple times in the wrists while held at knifepoint. Sardoma allegedly said he would cut the man's hands off.

Scared that he would be killed, the victim told the men that the missing Ice was at his girlfriend's house in the car so the handcuffs were removed. When they arrived though, the victim fled into the jungle where he stayed in hiding for more than 9 hours as he saw people searching for him. He managed to contact police for help.

Sardoma and Sablan were arrested on Wednesday but Sardoma's attorney, Curtis Van De Veld, sought a continuance of today's magistrate hearing until he receives documents from the prosecution. Werner, however, asked that Sardoma remain behind bars for the safety of the victim. He said, "The victim is at high risk, the government cannot protect the victim at this point, we have serious safety concerns about the victim as well as the community and witnesses and also this individual has an extensive criminal history."

Sardoma was busted a few months ago, caught carrying Ice on a flight from Manila to Guam. A search warrant of his Dededo home on Wednesday yielded the gun and handcuffs allegedly used in the kidnapping as well as several thousand dollars in cash, surveillance equipment, liquid methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Sablan also has a history of drug charges. His Dededo home was raided by authorities earlier this year where agents seized more than a dozen firearms, some with serial numbers that had been scratched off, more than 300 rounds of ammunition, marijuana plants, surveillance equipment, drug paraphernalia and more than a grand in cash.