by Nick Delgado

Guam - Two of the seven former Naval Exchange employees indicted on wire fraud and theft of government property charges were sentenced in the District Court this morning. 33-year-old Vincent Aguon, a former lead sales associate at the Naval Exchange Auto Port and the mastermind behind the scheme, was sentenced to four months of electronic monitoring. Aguon along with six others were indicted on 20 counts of wire fraud for using military credit cards to purchase items on base such as gift cards, drinks, tires, cigarettes and a laptop even after exceeding their credit card limit. The indictment states, the group would input a series of codes to override those credit card charges that declined. Aguon, who plead guilty to only one count of wire fraud, made 178 unauthorized charges in the one month he was being investigated and watched on video surveillance. It was stated in court today that he also made other charges that went unaccounted for. Aguon faced four to ten months behind bars, but testimony from his psychiatrist and his mother today showed that Aguon's action were a cry for help, as he suffered from a childhood filled with bullying by his peers while living in the states because of his ethnicity and sexual preference. Aguon apologized for his actions saying he did it to gain popularity amongst his friends and coworkers. Aguon must pay back more than $27,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 3 years supervised probation and must do 50 hours community service.

Meantime, his coworker Jessica Taijeron was sentenced to one year probation. Taijeron processed more than forty charges at the request of Aguon, but gained no financial benefit from committing the crime. As for the other co-defendants, Johanna Naputi, Geneviene Torres and Eleecia Cali were also given probation for their part in the theft. Jasmine Cruz and Shannon Peredo are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.