Rayne Aukongak was arraigned today in the Nome courthouse, where he was informed of the charges brought against him and allowed to make his plea. He has been indicted on four counts of misconduct involving controlled substances, including possession and distribution of heroin; the charges are related to incidents that occurred on four different days last year. Aukongak’s lawyer pled not guilty on his client’s behalf.
During Aukongak’s preliminary hearing earlier this month, he asked for new counsel based on the claim that he was misrepresented by his lawyer, Zachary Davies. However, Davies remains the public defender to represent Aukongak.
Judge Paul A. Roetman presided over today’s case via telephone. He was calling in from Kotzebue. Before Aukongak’s case was concluded for the day, an increase in bail was requested by John Earthman from the District Attorney’s office.
“It was originally $20,000 and a third party, that’s what we believe is appropriate here. Mr. Aukongak has a prior narcotics delivery conviction for which he got off on probation, I want to say in November of 2015. He didn’t last a year before he was back selling narcotics; we have four more sales of narcotics, so $20,000 and a third party,” reiterated Earthman.
Judge Roetman set bail at $10,000 and added a third party custodian for Aukongak. His next hearing is scheduled for the morning of March 16th.
