by Krystal Paco

Guam - Could you fall victim of a new crime tactic? Residents should be on high alert for criminals targeting unsuspecting motorists.

It was around 4:30 Friday morning when former senator Judi Guthertz says she believes she was nearly robbed.

The early riser says she was driving near First Hawaiian Bank in Maite en route to the gym, where she stopped at the traffic light.

"I heard some individuals yelling for help, help help. I naturally and instinctively like any good Samaritan I rolled my window down a little bit to see what was happening to see if I could help," she said.

That's when she saw three men to the left of her and heard another voice on her right where she observed a man standing on the curb.

"My instincts told me that this was not comfortable. That these folks didn't look like they needed any emergency help. But that this was kind of a dangerous threatening situation. As they got closer to me, I said I need to move away from here. So I just hit my gas pedal and proceeded as quickly as I could away from that place," she said.

Had Guthertz been a good Samaritan, she fears she could've been a victim to what appears to be a new crime tactic.

"I found out later that other individuals have had the same experience - sort of being accosted on the streets where there are traffic lights, either late, late at night or early in the morning. I thought about also the fellow who was robbed at gunpoint, the bakery truck driver 0249 and his circumstances were kind of similar to this,"

Guthertz is referring to the armed robbery last week in which a Guam Bakery driver was prompted to stop in Barrigada. The two suspects threatened the driver with a knife and screwdriver in broad daylight and ran off with the driver's cellphone and an estimated $400 in cash from sales that day...

Although Guthertz was lucky her gut instincts told her to flee the scene, as former director of public safety, former acting chief of police, and a former police reserve officer, she says she remains concerned about the rise in crime.

"I am upset about the increasing crime on the island. It's not right. It's not right for the people in our community to feel threatened in any way for their safety whether at home, on the road, or at a social function or at work," she said.

Her advice to residents?

"I would like to encourage people to be very careful on the roads. Lock your car doors. Look on both sides of your windows if people are asking for help," she said. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't help if there's somebody really in need but its very hard to tell if you were in that kind of situation I was in. Probably the best thing to do is to move away and report it to the police. Call 911 and report what happened and maybe they can respond."