By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THE federal court says the man arrested for distribution of “ice” during a buy-bust operation near a school on Saipan last month was convicted in Guam of drug trafficking in 2002.
Wei, Kuo Chung, also known as John Wei, received a jail sentence of 46 months for trafficking more than a kilo of methamphetamine, also known as “ice,” in 2002. He was released in 2005 and was deported to China.
On Thursday, Wei appeared in federal court for a preliminary hearing.
Wei, through his lawyer Loren Sutton, waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
The government, represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Moore, moved that Wei be held in detention without bail.
U.S. District Court for NMI Chief Judge Alex Munson granted the government’s motion and ordered that Wei be remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service.
Munson, in his order on Monday, said the nature and circumstances of the offense charged in this case are “very serious.”
Wei distributed a total of about six grams, an amount larger than in many cases to come before the U.S. District Court, the judge said.
Munson said it appears that Wei may be a supplier of drugs to other dealers in the CNMI and that the defendant is facing a substantial penalty in the event he is convicted again.
Munson said the defendant’s activity involved the distribution of “an extraordinarily dangerous and highly addictive controlled substance” that has had a “devastating effect on the CNMI community.”
“It continues to pose a significant risk to the community as a whole and his release would only heighten that risk. The court notes that in this particular case, the evidence is that the defendant displayed a substantial disregard for the safety of the children in this community by committing the offenses next to a school,” Munson stated in his order.
He said the court finds that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of Wei as required and the safety of any other person and the community.
Munson ordered that Wei be detained pending further proceedings and that the defendant be committed to the custody of “the attorney general for confinement in a corrections facility separate, to the extent practicable, from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal.”
Wei, the judge added, will be afforded reasonable opportunity for private consultation with counsel.
The federal court also ordered the corrections officer in charge of the corrections facility to deliver Wei to a U.S. Marshal for the purpose of an appearance in connection with a federal court proceeding.
Wei was arrested on April 6 for distribution of a controlled substance on two separate occasions.
Wei was initially arrested not on the drug charges but for failing to signal while switching lanes in Chalan Kanoa. Authorities later recovered the controlled substance and the buy-bust money amounting to $350 .
The complaint affidavit submitted to the court stated that a buy-bust operation was conducted on April 5 and 6, 2007 in the parking lot of the Sister Remedio School in Chalan Kanoa.
A confidential source managed to buy three grams of methamphetamine from the defendant in two transactions for $350 in each transaction.
After the second buy-bust operation, the authorities followed the defendant’s car until Wei’s vehicle was stopped for a traffic violation.
Documents stated that Wei was employed for four months with an agency which brings in tourists from China.
Wei has freely traveled between Saipan and China on at least six occasions.