Man acquitted of murder charges last year, admits using ‘ice’

Franklin Cabrera Cepeda Jr., a man who was acquitted last October for murder charges in connection with the 2000 killing of a businessman inside a karaoke bar, has admitted using methamphetamine or “ice” last January, according to the U.S. Probation Office.

U.S. Probation Officer Gregory F. Arriola said that, on Jan. 5, 2012 Cepeda reported to their office to submit his monthly supervision report for the month of December 2011.

“This officer had him submit to a random drug test and he tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine,” said Arriola in his report filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the NMI.

Arriola requested the district court to modify Cepeda’s conditions or term of supervision. The defendant consented to such modification.

The probation officer said at first, Cepeda denied he used “ice” and explained that he had taken ibuprofen three days ago because he was experiencing back pain.

Arriola informed the defendant that ibuprofen would not trigger a presumptive positive result for methamphetamine.

Shortly after Cepeda left the U.S. Probation Office, the defendant called Arriola and stated that a family member told him it was not ibuprofen pills but oxycodone pills that he consumed for back pain.

The probation officer informed the defendant that test results would have been presumptive positive for opiates and not methamphetamine if he had indeed consumed oxycodone pills.

Arriola advised Cepeda that it is illegal to take another person’s prescription medication and admonished him for the behavior.

Arriola said that, on the same day, Cepeda called him to admit that he used “ice” three days ago after an old friend had offered him the drug.

The probation officer said Cepeda then signed an admission form and was warned that continued noncompliant behavior may result in the revocation of his supervised release.

Arriola said Cepeda apologized for his actions and stated that he would word harder at avoiding situations that may cause him to revert back to drug use.

Arriola recommended that the mandatory condition be modified to the following: Cepeda shall refrain from any unlawful use of a controlled substance and shall submit to one drug test within 15 days of release from jail and at least two periodic drug tests thereafter, not to exceed eight tests per month.

On Jan. 7, 2003, the district court sentenced Cepeda to 14 months in jail with three years of supervised release for his conviction to the offense of mail theft.

Due to his imprisonment over the murder case, Cepeda’s term of supervised release did not begin until his release from the Department of Corrections on Oct. 7, 2011.

In November 2011, Arriola also reported to federal court that Cepeda smoked marijuana two days after a Superior Court jury rendered a not guilty verdict on him for murder charges.

The federal court granted the Probation Office’s then recommendation that no action to be taken against Cepeda.

In March 2005, Cepeda was sentenced to 66 years in jail after he was found guilty for the murder of Ron Zhou at a karaoke bar in San Jose. In 2009, the CNMI Supreme Court vacated the conviction and remanded the case to the Superior Court for a new trial.

On Oct. 7, 2011, the jurors reached a unanimous verdict finding Cepeda not guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery, and conspiracy.

Associate judge Perry B. Inos, who presided over the retrial and decided the misdemeanor charges, found Cepeda guilty of assault and battery, and theft.

Inos sentenced the defendant to the maximum one year in prison and $1,000 fine each as to assault and battery, and theft.

Since Cepeda had been in detention for eight years at the time, he was released from DOC that same day, Oct. 7.