WAIMEA— The man accused of carrying meth, cocaine and heroin was arraigned on six of the seven charges against him Thursday in district court. ADVERTISING WAIMEA— The man accused of carrying meth, cocaine and heroin was arraigned on six of
WAIMEA— The man accused of carrying meth, cocaine and heroin was arraigned on six of the seven charges against him Thursday in district court.
Richard Castro, 52, of no permanent address, was arrested Feb. 5 after police spotted the truck he was driving in Kailua-Kona and followed it. They met him and his passenger, Benjamin Fleming, 50, of Captain Cook, at the Queen K. Tesoro. There both men were arrested, after a police dog search and officers spotting a visible glass smoking pipe with white residue on the center console.
Police charged Castro with first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, meth trafficking, possessing drug paraphernalia, illegal place to keep ammunition and ownership of ammunition prohibited.
Judge Diana van der Car said the six drug charges met the reasonable person standard used in preliminary hearings, but the seventh was a problem. That was the charge for possession of ammunition by a felon.
“We only have hearsay evidence he’s a felon,” said van der Car.
Castro was originally in court on Feb. 9, where van der Car heard testimony by officer John Balberde, who was at the arrest and helped transport both suspects to the cell block.
During Thursday’s hearing, officer Kyle Hirayama testified about his part in the evidence recovery, which was consistent with Balberde’s statements about the search. Balberde said he was unable to recollect specific weights of the drugs recovered, but Hirayama provided them.
As for the possession of ammunition charge that didn’t go through, neither officer was able to say they had directly checked to see if Castro was a felon. Balberde said he requested a check by central dispatch and Hirayama said he was told by other officers.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Kimberly Taniyama explained she’d requested a report from the Oahu courts that would prove the matter, but they had not provided a certified copy, despite two weeks between the hearings.
Van de Car did not find probable cause on that count and carried the other six over.
The judge maintained Castro’s bail at $316,000. The case is headed to 3rd Circuit Court Judge Melvin Fujino’s courtroom at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 29.
