After a traffic stop Joe Taimanglo was charged with firearm offenses. Officers also found what they suspected are methamphetamine in Taimanglo’s vehicle.
According to The Guam Daily Post Bellator MMA veteran Joe Taimanglo, 36, was arrested last month after a routine traffic stop in the village of Dededo after midnight local time. When he was stopped by police Taimanglo, who was riding a scooter, is said to have been seen rummaging through a compartment underneath his seat.
Police documents state that Taimanglo continued to rummage through the compartment even after an officer told him to stop. Reportedly, Taimanglo told officers he was looking for his license.
Officers claimed that, when they inspected the compartment, they discovered a firearm and a glass pipe coated with a white residue. Taimanglo reportedly told the officers he did not know there was a gun in the scooter.
The gun was a Ruger P85 pistol. Bullets were found alongside the pistol. A plastic bag containing what is suspected to be methamphetamine was also allegedly recovered from the scooter.
Police documents state that Taimanglo claimed he was borrowing the scooter and that the gun must have been placed there by someone else. However, police say Taimanglo then changed his story and said the gun had been used during an attempted robbery at a store he owned and that he picked up the gun after the perpetrator left it at the store.
Taimanglo said he did not report this robbery because he was able to recover the stolen items. Taimanglo did not provide any further information about the robbery or the robber he claimed originally owned the weapon.
The police report also states that Taimanglo originally said he owned the drugs that were found on the scooter. However, it is reported that he then changed that story and said that he took them away from a family member to prevent them from using them.
The report does state that Taimanglo admitted to police that he had used meth at least one time in the past.
Taimanglo was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card as a third-degree felony, illegal possession of a concealed firearm as a third-degree felony and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony.
Taimanglo has a pro MMA record of 24-9-1. 11 of his fights have happened under the Bellator MMA banner. In 2016 he headlined both Bellator 159 and Bellator 167 opposite Darion Caldwell.
In their first match-up Taimanglo beat Caldwell with a guillotine choke in one of the more memorable fights of the year. In their rematch Caldwell won by unanimous decision.
After the second Caldwell fight Taimanglo dropped a decision to Leandro Higo at Bellator 184. his next Bellator fight was in 2018, a split decision win over former Bellator featherweight and bantamweight champion Joe Warren.
Since the win over Warren Taimanglo has only fought once, a unanimous decision loss to Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev in the main event of WFCA 54 in November 2018.