Maria C. Edrosa Sentenced To 78 Months In Prison

ALICIA A.G. LIMTIACO, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced the sentencing of defendant MARIA C. EDROSA by the Honorable Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, Chief Judge, District Court of Guam. EDROSA was one of the defendants in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case, United States v. Sardoma, et al. Defendant EDROSA received a 78-month sentence of imprisonment and three years of supervised release to follow, for disposal of a firearm to a felon, defendant Mateo Sardoma, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 924 (a)(2). The Court took into account the participation of defendant EDROSA in a Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine run by her boyfriend, Mateo Sardoma.

The drug conspiracy involved a scheme to bring methamphetamine to Guam from the Philippines and California. This methamphetamine was traded for firearms, stolen items and for cash. Large amounts of cash were mailed to California including $35,000 on March 24, 2011 and $59,900 sent again on April 18, 2011 in exchange for multiple pound quantities of methamphetamine. Sardoma and EDROSA made improvements to their Dededo residence between April and June of 2011 in cash payments to the contractor of approx. $53,340. Defendant EDROSA assisted in the distribution of these narcotics, the shipment of cash through the mails and she purchased airline tickets to further the scheme. She also furnished a firearm to defendant Sardoma for use in the narcotics conspiracy. The firearm furnished by EDROSA was used by Sardoma to maintain control of the methamphetamine organization, and in the kidnapping, torture and brutal assault of one victim on October 24, 2011.

U.S. Attorney Limtiaco stated, "Our community is not immune from the poison of methamphetamine. This case illustrates the hard work our partners in law enforcement do every day to stop the distribution of methamphetamine into Guam." This conviction resulted from the concerted efforts of law enforcement partners in the OCDETF investigation, a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The investigating agencies include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (USCGIS), U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Guam Police Department (GPD) and Guam Customs & Quarantine Agency (GC&QA). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Frederick Black and Stephen Leon Guerrero.