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Alleged Tinian ‘ice’ trafficker posts property bond
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Posted on Apr 13 2012
An ex-convict who was arrested again for allegedly selling methamphetamine or “ice” was allowed yesterday to post a $30,000 property bond.
Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo approved the posting of the property bond despite the Office of the Attorney General’s strong opposition to modify the $30,000 cash bail for Luis Cruz Cepeda.
The OAG cited that Cepeda, who has two prior convictions, was arrested 12 times in the past for various offenses.
Govendo found Cepeda’s sister acceptable as third-party custodian but told him that he cannot leave the house without his sister or her husband.
Arraignment will be on April 27 at 9am.
In the government’s opposition to modify bail, assistant attorney general Eileen Escudero Wisor pointed out that the property bond and a third-party custodian are not enough to protect the community from Cepeda.
Wisor said that Cepeda continues to defy the law despite his two prior convictions for assault and battery. “It is clear defendant has no intention to follow the laws of the CNMI,” she said, adding that the present case is Cepeda’s second trafficking charge in eight years.
She noted that Cepeda’s history with police contact includes 12 arrests involving charges of assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, disturbing the peace, riot, burglary, illegal possession of ammunition, and manufacturing, delivery, and possession of a controlled substance.
“The government maintains this combination of weapons, drugs, and violence suggests a pattern that could potentially be deadly,” Wisor said.
Police arrested Cepeda on Wednesday for allegedly selling $100 worth of “ice” to a Drug Enforcement Task Force “cooperating source” at his farm on Tinian on Dec. 30, 2011.
