DOC continues halfway house investigation

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - An investigation is underway to determine how a halfway house inmate managed to steal a Department of Corrections work truck to escape.  The incident happened early Saturday morning following a 1am head count. 33-year-old Xavier Tedtaotao didn't make it far though as he led police on a high speed chase and crashed in Dededo. 

DepCor spokesperson Lieutenant Antone Aguon confirms there was only one officer assigned to the 27 halfway house inmates. "Generally one it's been like that for years, generally one or two, because they are minimum security inmates they do go out in the community during the day they're not considered a high threat. We'd rather have more officers in the maximum security unit and other units where more high risk inmates are housed at," he said.

Aguon says the investigation will not only determine how Tedtaotao gained access to the keys, but also where the perimeter security was at the time of the escape and whether procedures were followed. Tedtaotao now faces at least three-to-five years just for the escape charge.