A local golfer was sentenced on Tuesday to spend 10 days in prison in connection with marijuana found in his luggage.[1] Superior Court of Guam Judge Vernon Perez sentenced golfer Nalapon Vongjalorn to 10 days in prison.[1] Vongjalorn had entered a plea deal and pleaded guilty, and his lawyer said it was his first offense.[1] He was scheduled to turn himself in to the Department of Corrections on 4 January to serve the sentence.[1]
Nalapon Vongjalorn was initially charged in December 2016 after he landed at the Guam airport and a drug detecting dog alerted a Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency officer to him at the baggage carousel.[1] He told Customs he had a grinder, which officers found along with two resealable bags containing a green leafy substance.[1] Officers also found two more small plastic baggies on Vongjalorn, containing leafy vegetable matter that tested presumptive positive for marijuana.[2] The combined gross weight of the suspected marijuana was 78.9 grams, according to the magistrate’s complaint.[2] His lawyer later said Vongjalorn had less than two ounces of marijuana.[1] He was charged with importation of a Schedule I controlled substance as a first-degree felony, possession of a Schedule I controlled substance on board an aircraft as a first-degree felony and possession of more than one ounce of marijuana as a petty misdemeanor.[2]
He reportedly admitted the items were marijuana and said he used the drug regularly.[2] At sentencing he said that before coming to Guam he had been using the substance a lot and had not thought to dump it before boarding his flight.[1] Former Guam National Golf Federation president Samuel Teker spoke for Vongjalorn at sentencing, calling him a good ambassador for Guam.[1]
