Police discover unsanitary living conditions at Agat home

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - A search warrant was executed at an Agat residence this morning as police were conducting a burglary investigation. And they were shocked at what they discovered.

Members of the Guam Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division had no idea what they were getting themselves into when they executed a search warrant at this single storey home in Agat next to  Chalan Sulla. Police Lieutenant Ron Taitano says agents executed a search warrant related to an ongoing burglary investigation, saying, "Upon our search here we came across very unhealthy living conditions. And because of the unsanitary living conditions we notified the Environmental Protection Agency and public health so they've come down here and done their inspections." Asked if that group included  Child Protective Services, Taitano said it did. When asked if there minors living there, the lieutenant said, "Yes, there were."

Officers were shocked to know that anybody was living in the horrid conditions, much less a 5-year-old and a 16-year-old. At the back of the home, officers discovered piles and piles of trash that looked like a mini dump.  The trash was piled so high officers couldn't even open the back door of the house to exit the home.

Inside, it wasn't much better.  We're told that officers literally had to use shovels to move things around the home as trash and items were littered inside.  We're told that the living conditions were extremely deplorable with parts of the roof falling off in parts of the house.

Taitano said, "We have conducted maybe several searches over the last couple months and lately we have been finding more and more of this and right now over the last couple of months that I've been involved in this has to be by far the worst I've seen." Several officers even donned white hazardous material suits as they entered the home while others wore gloves as they rummaged through the items in search of stolen property.

Lieutenant Taitano says the investigation stems from a burglary that was reported back in January, explaining, "We've recovered a few items what we found to be evidentiary, and right now we are still investigating again we're still talking to a few people and we hope to recover a few more stolen items."

There are indications that the burglary was drug-related, but police have not confirmed that information at this time. We were told that several people were taken into custody for questioning but no arrests have been made.