A man who is accused of two counts of trafficking of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, was allowed to post bail. <\/p>\n
Mark Anthony Benavente, 38, was released to his girlfriend and third-party custodian upon posting 10 percent of his initial bail of $10,000. <\/p>\n
Benavente\u2019s lawyer, chief public defender Doug Hartig, argued that he is not a flight risk and should be allowed to have his initial bail amount modified.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Naraja approved to modify Benavente\u2019s bail and allowed his girlfriend to serve as his third-party custodian.<\/p>\n
Other conditions imposed on Benavente is a 7am to 7pm curfew, random drug testing, and Benavente is prohibited from leaving home without his third-party custodian past curfew. <\/p>\n
Benavente was arrested following two sting operations by the Drug Enforcement Task Force.<\/p>\n
According to the declaration of probable cause, the charges against Benavente are backed by recorded phone conversations and identification by a cooperating source.<\/p>\n
The declaration of probable cause states that on Jan. 11, 2018, and Jan. 18, 2018, Benavente was caught, through the task force\u2019s cooperating source, distributing \u201cice\u201d in Chalan Kanoa.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 11, 2018, at about 11:35am, task force officers monitored a phone conversation between the cooperating source and Benavente, where they agreed to meet at the Shany Laundry and Poker in Chalan Kanoa to make the transaction.<\/p>\n
Although Benavente was initially hesitant on the phone to sell \u201cice\u201d to the cooperating source, he still went through with it.<\/p>\n
Task force officers later showed the cooperating source a picture of Benavente and the source confirmed that the man in the picture was the man he met at the Shany Laundry and Poker.<\/p>\n
Task force officers tested the crystalline substance procured from the cooperating source for methamphetamine and the results turned up positive.<\/p>\n
The second \u201cbuy-walk\u201d operation was on Jan. 18, 2018, at the Shany Laundry and Poker at around 2:19pm.<\/p>\n
In May 2015, Benavente was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to burglarizing and stealing money and an iPad from the Pena House Boutique in Chalan Kanoa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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