Guam - Individuals caught in lewd acts could face higher penalties if Bill 242 passes into law. Introduced by Senator Brant McCreadie today, the legislation amends Guam law relative to crimes for those who expose their genitals or perform any lewd acts to a person under the age of 16.

"It's a bill that ups the penalty for lewdness from a petty misdemeanor to a misdemeanor," he explained. "And if you do any lewd acts in front of children under the age of 16 then it becomes a felony, my intention is to not just curb these kind of acts, which we recently just had one, but to eliminate it completely from this community."

McCreadie notes that smaller crimes should be handled early on to prevent more serious crimes, like the recent rape of two young girls in Dededo over the weekend.