Mass.- Was This the Plan All Along? Alleged Drug Trafficker Jumps $10K Bail Posted By Bail Fund

 

A Maine man whose $10,000 bail in a fentanyl trafficking case was posted by a controversial advocacy group has defaulted in the case. 

When Ronald W. Stanley's court-appointed attorney asked Salem Superior Court Judge Salim Tabit on Thursday not to order that $10,000 bail forfeited to the state and instead return it to the nonprofit Massachusetts Bail Fund, the judge said no. 

"Not when I'm sitting here is it going back to the Bail Fund," said Tabit. 

No one from the organization appeared in response to a notice that the forfeiture hearing was scheduled for Thursday. 

That means barring a change of heart by the judge, the $10,000 cash will be turned over to the state's general fund.

Bail is an amount of money that is used as a way of ensuring a person returns to court for trial and pre-trial proceedings rather than flee the jurisdiction. If a defendant fails to appear, that money is forfeited to the state. 

The potential loss of what can be a significant amount of money that belongs to the defendant or a loved one is usually enough of an incentive to return to court. 

But critics of cash bail, including the Massachusetts Bail Fund, point out that it unduly penalizes people who cannot afford to post even comparatively small amounts of bail, and so end up being held in custody until trial. During that time, individuals can lose jobs, apartments, and even custody of their children. 

The fund raises money through donations and grants. 

The fund initially began posting only smaller bails, with an original cap of $500, but in 2020, it came under scrutiny for a series of substantially higher bails posted in high-profile and serious cases. Among those cases was that of Tyler Jacquard, a sex offender charged with lewdness outside a Lynnfield shopping plaza, as well as a man charged in a shooting on Boston Common and another sex offender awaiting trial on rape charges who was arrested in another sexual assault after being released on bail.

Stanley, 31, of Oxford, Maine, was arrested in November, 2020 by a state trooper who stopped the car he was riding in on Route 495 in Methuen. 

The trooper reported that Stanley was moving around and reaching down and behind his seat during the stop; there was also a piece of green plastic wrap sticking out from under his leg (which later fell to the ground when the trooper ordered him out of the car), according to court filings.

The trooper also found $10,000 in cash in the vehicle, as well as a knife and a hammer, according to court papers.

He was indicted on charges of trafficking in opiates between 100 and 200 grams and faces a mandatory minimum eight years and up to 30 years in prison if found guilty. 

Earlier this month, his attorney, Amy Smith, was set to argue that the evidence in the case against Stanley should be suppressed because, she argued, police did not have a legitimate reason to order him out of the car where they found the drugs. Prosecutors argued that the defendant's actions at the scene, by the side of the road in Methuen, and the visible plastic wrap under his leg justified the "exit order." 

Tabit had set the bail for Stanley at $10,000 at his arraignment in January of 2021. 

In September, probation officers asked for a warrant to be issued for a violation of the terms of his release. When he was arrested later that month in Oxford, Maine, on a fugitive from justice warrant, he was also charged with possession of fentanyl. 

After Stanley was brought back to Massachusetts in custody, Tabit revoked his bail for 90 days. After the 90 days was up, Stanley was released again at the end of December.

He failed to appear on Feb. 10 for a hearing on Smith's motion to suppress. A new warrant was issued, and a bail forfeiture hearing was set for Thursday, Feb. 24. 

When neither Stanley nor a representative of the Bail Fund appeared, prosecutors requested that the bail be forfeited. Tabit granted the request. 

The organization recently changed its mailing address from Cambridge to Dorchester. 

A message left for the bail fund via its website was not returned Friday. The organizers of the fund say on its website that media coverage has gone "hand in hand" with a "right-wing agenda" to uphold what it calls a "white supremacist institution."

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