FOLLOWING a buy-walk operation conducted by the Tinian Department of Public Safety, two men were arrested for selling methamphetamine to a police informer.
Jesse P. Aquiningoc, 44, and Anthony H. Cruz, 42, were charged separately with possession and trafficking of a controlled substance.
Aquiningoc and Cruz appeared before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho for a bail hearing on Friday.
Judge Camacho imposed a $50,000 cash bail on Aquiningoc, and $100,000 cash bail on Cruz.
Aquiningoc and Cruz were separately represented by Assistant Public Defender Vina Seelam while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
After the hearing, Aquiningoc, and Cruz were remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections and ordered to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 21, 2022, and for an arraignment on Oct. 24, 2022.
According to the complaint against Aquiningoc, he sold $50 worth of methamphetamine to a police informer in September.
While under surveillance by the Tinian Criminal Investigation Bureau, Aquiningoc handed the informer a small crumpled white paper, inside of which was a plastic straw containing a crystal-like substance, the complaint stated.
Tinian DPS stated that the crystal-like substance tested positive for methamphetamine.
As for Cruz, Tinian DPS-CIB conducted three buy-walk operations with another informer in May 2022 and twice in September 2022.
Police stated that Cruz sold the informer a total of $280 worth of methamphetamine on those three occasions.
The informer told police that Cruz was selling methamphetamine for “$50, $100, and above.”
