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Two men involved in drug trafficking plead not guilty
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Posted on Jan 08 2019
Two men arrested for allegedly trafficking crystal methamphetamine or “ice” through the U.S. Postal Service pleaded not guilty yesterday in Superior Court.
During an arraignment yesterday, Ronnie San Nicolas, 24, and Daniel Buniag, 29, through their lawyers, pleaded not guilty for the charge of trafficking of an illegal substance.
Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo scheduled both San Nicolas and Buniag for a status conference on March 5, 2018.
According to a declaration of probable cause by drug enforcement task force officer Maynard D Reyes, Buniag allegedly allowed the use of his postal box in order to bring in the drug that allegedly belonged to San Nicolas.
A USPS package addressed to Buniag that he said contained items for his daughter was intercepted during routine customs inspection on Dec 20, 2018, at about 9:30am and a Customs officer allegedly found it contained the illegal drug.
According to the declaration, Customs officers found a Folgers coffee container in the package and noticed that the seal of the container had been tampered with.
When Buniag was asked about the container, he said that someone else owned the package and he did not know what it contained.
Customs officers then unsealed the container and poured the contents into a trash bag, uncovering two separate packages inside the container
After inspecting the contents of the package, Customs officers found a crystalline substance that later tested presumptive positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
Buniag was then detained and questioned.
Buniag told officers that about a month prior, an acquaintance asked to use his mailbox and for him to receive mail on behalf of San Nicolas. Buniag agreed on a condition that he gets paid.
Buniag said that approximately two weeks after, he contacted San Nicolas and told him not to use his mailbox because he was worried that it was for illegal purposes. San Nicolas allegedly told Buniag it was too late because the package had already been sent.
Buniag showed officers his text messages with San Nicolas about the package deal.
