Man convicted of aggravated assault after attacking teenagers in park | News

A man accused of attacking a group of teenagers at a Dededo park earlier this year was found guilty of aggravated assault during a jury trial, according to a news release from Attorney General Douglas Moylan.

Joseph Lee Pugh Jr., 43, was convicted of aggravated assault as a second-degree felony and five counts of aggravated assault as a third-degree felony, with the special allegation of using of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony.

Moylan said prosecutors will ask Judge Vernon P. Perez to sentence Pugh to a maximum of 64 years in prison.

A magistrate’s complaint filed in Superior Court on May 2 described the confrontation between Pugh and the group of teenagers.

On April 28, around 7 p.m., a Sunday evening, Pugh approached the group at a basketball court in front of Liguan Elementary School. He asked why the park was dark and a 17-year-old told him the lights weren’t working.

An hour later, Pugh returned and “appeared to be holding rebar in his left hand and a possible knife or broken glass bottle” in his right hand, according to the complaint.

“The park is closed and you need to leave now,” Pugh allegedly shouted.

The 17-year-old told Pugh, “You’re not my father,” and Pugh lunged forward, making a slashing motion.

A fight ensued and the teenager was hit by an object behind the neck.

Pugh also allegedly lunged at a 15-year-old using a “sharp, shiny object,” the complaint states.

The boy was injured and taken to Guam Memorial Hospital with a chest injury.

“Public sports facilities and parks, especially in Dededo, one of our largest villages, must become and remain safe spaces where our adolescents gather to engage in healthy sports activities,” Moylan said in the release. press. “Drunks, drug addicts and others bent on creating violence cannot be allowed into these places. »

The jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for approximately two hours.