New London man, charged with dealing heroin, re-arrested after turning himself in
Jacob R. Mena, a New London man charged with dealing heroin and who was ordered re-arrested last month after missing two court dates, turned himself in to New London police Thursday morning and was taken into custody.
Mena, 24, walked into police headquarters at 7:09 a.m., according to Deputy Chief Peter Reichard.
He was charged with first-degree failure to appear in court and presented before Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein.
He is being held in lieu of $75,000 cash at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center and is due back in court on May 24.
He had posted a $75,000 surety bond after New London police charged him on Feb. 24 with possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a housing project, operating a drug factory, possession of drug paraphernalia and interfering with a search warrant.
Police said they seized 64 grams of heroin from the Crystal Avenue apartment of Mena's girlfriend.
Police had seized Mena's passport following his arrest, but by agreement with the state, his attorney arranged for court officials to release it back to him.
Shawn Startz, the Waterford bail bondsman who arranged for Mena to secure the surety bond, said that after Mena failed to show up in court, Mena's sister told him Mena had gone on vacation in the Dominican Republic and was involved in a car accident.
Prior to Mena's re-arrest, Meriden attorney Jeffrey D. Brownstein had filed a motion on behalf of Startz's employer, the Gary Graham Bail Bond Agency, seeking to be released of its obligation with the bond.
The May 11 motion said that, prior to posting the bond for Mena, the bondsman "did his due diligence to ensure that the defendant's passport was being held by law enforcement and/or the state, which is standard procedure."
The motion, which has not yet been decided, said the state did not notify the bail agency that Mena had requested his passport returned and would have objected to the request.
The agency would not have posted the bond if it knew the court would entertain the request to return it to the defendant, the motion said.
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