Following a six-day trial in the Supreme Court, a jury found Mr. Silverio Rengulbai guilty on two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance and two counts of Trafficking a Controlled Substance. The jury also found Mr. Rengulbai not guilty on one count of Possession and one count of Trafficking.
Mr. Rengulbai, who has been under investigation by the Narcotics Enforcement Agency (NEA) for drug trafficking since before 2017, stood trial for three separate incidences which involved “controlled buys” by Confidential Informants (CI’s), or former traffickers working alongside the NEA to provide evidence of drug transactions. The incidents under examination took place in September 2017, November 2018, and March 2020.
The trial involved testimonies from law enforcement and civilian witnesses, from CI’s involved in the investigation, and from narcotics experts based in Guam who positively identified the meth samples, who testified via ZOOM.
The trial also examined a search of Mr. Rengulbai’s home in March 2020 by the NEA, which uncovered meth ready for distribution, drug paraphernalia, marijuana cigarettes, $16,755 in cash, and a cooler filled with dead protected species of fish.
Sentencing for Mr. Rengulbai is set for April 9, 2021.
This is the first in a series of meth-related criminal trials scheduled over the next couple months, with Mr. Aiken Uehara set to stand trial for drug trafficking next week.