Busted before, alleged drug traffickers denied bail

Shaquan Almendarez

While three were convicted of firearm offences, four persons, including a sixteen year old minor, were also in court today for Drug Trafficking. Twenty-year old Shaquan Almendarez, forty-seven year old Clinton Martin, thirty-eight year old Marvin Staine and the minor were arrested on Tuesday morning on Electric Avenue. Police officers on mobile patrol searched the group that was hanging out in a yard and found a black plastic bag containing one hundred and five grams of suspected cannabis. In court today, all four pleaded not guilty and the prosecutor only objected to bail against Almendarez and Martin. That’s because they were both already on bail for drug trafficking and they have previous drug related convictions for which they still owe fines to the court.

Clinton Martin

Magistrate Aretha Ford upheld the objection and denied bail for Almendarez only while Martin, Staine and the minor were granted bail of five thousand dollars each. Almendarez begged Magistrate Ford not to send him to prison because he would lose everything, including his taxi, which he is still paying for. When that didn’t work, he claimed he would be killed in jail because many people don’t like him. Magistrate Ford did not buy any of his stories and he was remanded until October sixteenth, 2012.