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Trial of ex-Rota official in ‘ice’ case starts
Despite the air-conditioning unit not working, the jury trial of former Rota Finance Procurement and Supply acting administrator Tilford S. Toves began yesterday at the Superior Court on Rota. Toves is facing charges of trafficking methamphetamine or “ice.”
Saipan Tribune learned that during the jury selection, over 100 potential jurors, including many elderly citizens, sat in the Rota Court House, suffering from the heat due to the broken air-conditioner.
After all efforts to fix the unit failed, Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho ordered the court staff to place fans throughout the courtroom to alleviate the heat.
By 12pm a jury had been empanelled, consisting of seven, including two alternates.
Chief Prosecutor Leonardo Rapadas called to the stand three witnesses who were among the passengers on a flight to Rota when the “ice” was discovered.
Assistant public defender Mathew Meyer served as counsel for Toves.
The jurors went home at 5:10pm. Camacho ordered them to return today, Tuesday, at 8:15am, for the continuation of the trial.
It’s the first jury trial on Rota in about 10 years. Camacho was assigned to handle Rota cases only in January.
In June 2014, police officers arrested then-Rota Finance official Toves and then-Commonwealth Health Center administrative staff Berlinda C. Flawau for alleged “ice” trafficking on Rota.
The two’s arrest came about after police discovered, through a confidential source, that Flawau allegedly sent a package that contained 20 baggies of “ice” from Saipan to Toves on Rota on June 11, 2014.
Officers allegedly seized $1,000 worth of “ice” during the operation.
The Office of the Attorney General charged Toves with attempted illegal possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit trafficking of a controlled substance, and restriction upon the use of a government vehicle.
