Court imposes $50K bail on man out on conditional release

The Superior Court has imposed a $50,000 cash bail on a man who was on pre-trial conditional release for a pending drug case because he violated the conditions of his release.

Juan Sablan Ada Jr. was arrested anew last Tuesday for alleged possession of methamphetamine.

Superior Court Associate Judge Wesley Bogdan imposed a $50,000 cash bail on Ada and denied his request to be released to the same third-party custodian and remain under house arrest. Ada was remanded back to the custody of the Department of Corrections, with instructions to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 21 at 1:30pm and for his arraignment on Feb. 2 at 9am.

According to court documents, Ada was arrested after he was found in a vehicle being driven by another drug-related suspect, Derek Reyes, who was at the time under surveillance by the NMI Drug Enforcement Task Force.

The surveillance team approached the vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, after it parked in front of the Toha Supermarket in San Antonio. Upon approaching the vehicle, the officers saw Ada in the front passenger side. When asked about Reyes’ whereabouts, Ada said he was inside the supermarket.

While securing Ada, officers observed drug paraphernalia in plain sight on the front driver side door, green leafy substance inside a clear Ziploc bag next to a small digital scale in the center console, and numerous small clear plastic Ziploc bags inside the vehicle.

As Ada was exiting the vehicle, an officer saw a small clear bag fall to the ground that contained a crystalline substance. The substance later tested presumptive positive for the presence of methamphetamine.

In a freely given statement to the officers, Ada said the small clear bag did not belong to him. He claims he saw the small clear bag inside the vehicle and was looking at it when the officers approached the vehicle. That allegedly surprised him, causing him to drop it in between the center console and the front passenger seat.

During a search of the vehicle, officers found another small Ziploc bag containing a white crystalline substance that also tested positive for methamphetamine.

When asked about the small bag that fell to the ground as he was getting out of the vehicle, Ada said it might have fallen from the seat as he got out.