Drug Importer Sentenced to Prison

          SHAWN N. ANDERSON, Acting United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant MARY ANN B. CANTORES, age 37, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to a 27-month term of imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release. The Court also ordered CANTORES to pay a mandatory $100 assessment fee. She was convicted of importation of 245 grams of methamphetamine with a 97.8% purity level.

          On September 16, 2013, CANTORES arrived in Guam from the Philippines. She was detained at the airport by Guam Customs and Quarantine officers who recovered three plastic ziplock bags containing methamphetamine that were concealed on the bottom of a DVD box. CANTORES knowingly brought the drugs from the Philippines which she carried in one of her luggage. She had agreed with persons in the Philippines to deliver the drugs to an individual in Guam, later identified as Alvin Padua. Padua was arrested on the same day, and on March 31, 2017, he received a sentence of 87 months imprisonment for his role in attempting to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and because of an extensive criminal history record.

          Defendant CANTORES pled guilty on October 9, 2013.

          The case was investigated by law enforcement agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Marivic David.