AUGUSTA — A judge on Monday set bail higher than the prosecutor requested for two people facing drug trafficking charges in the city.
Judge Tom Nale set $75,000 cash bail for Reuben W. Givens, 43, of Bronx, New York, and $10,000 bail for Amy Perkins, 41, of Augusta, during a hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.
The two are being held at the Kennebec County jail, and the hearing was conducted via video link with the defendants appearing on a monitor in the courtroom.
The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley, had sought $50,000 and $10,000 bail, respectively, for the pair, who were arrested Friday at Perkins’ Riverside Drive home.
Givens is charged with three counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs, two of those specifying heroin and one specifying cocaine base. Those charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
Perkins is charged with one count of aggravated trafficking in heroin and one count of unlawful trafficking in cocaine base.
All the charges are dated Friday, the day the suspects were arrested by Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers.
Sibley said authorities found 66 grams of heroin and 19 grams of crack cocaine that day in the room that Givens used at Perkins’ home.
Both Givens and Perkins face one count of criminal forfeiture of $1,670 cash, which was seized at the scene.
Sibley said Givens has a prior felony drug conviction in New York state and that Georgia has two active arrest warrants for Givens but would not extradite him from out of state on those. She said he also has a 1995 conviction for false impersonation.
“He has no known legitimate ties to the state of Maine,” she said. She asked for $50,000 cash bail for Givens, with conditions banning him from contact with Perkins, from leaving Maine and setting a curfew of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Attorney Elizabeth Gray, representing Givens as the lawyer of the day, reserved the right to argue for bail once an attorney is appointed in Givens’ case.
Attorney Tom Tilton, representing Perkins as lawyer of the day, said Perkins admitted using drugs, but not selling drugs, except for small amounts. “She’s a user, not a dealer,” Tilton said. He sought $1,000 cash bail for Perkins, saying her criminal record consists only of thefts.
In seeking the $5,000 bail for Perkins, Sibley told Nale, “She was housing an out-of-state drug trafficker.”
Nale said he set the higher bail in that case because he was concerned about the integrity of the judicial process.
Both defendants are scheduled for their next hearings on Nov. 22.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story