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Bethel Resident Accused Of Possessing And Distributing Small Amount Of Heroin

A Bethel resident is accused of possessing and distributing heroin within 500 feet of a school, and faces other charges related to dealing intoxicants.

Brandon Mayeda, age 22, is the defendant in six different cases involving over a dozen different offenses that range from heroin possession to driving without a license. He is currently out on bail.

Mayeda was indicted for heroin possession last spring after Bethel Police pulled him over in March. They allegedly found a gun concealed next to the driver’s seat and a bundle of cash held together with a rubber band. The passenger in Mayeda’s car had six grams of heroin, which he said that Mayeda gave him to distribute at the Long House Hotel.

A year before that, in February 2016, Mayeda was indicted for bootlegging in Toksook Bay. He and his then-girlfriend allegedly shipped bottles of distilled spirits through a local airline and planned to sell them in the dry community for $250 each. That case is one of several that were recently re-opened.

At his bail hearing yesterday, Brandon Mayeda sat in a back row of the courtroom with his young son who occasionally tried to play hide and seek with him behind the courtroom benches. A family member recently put up the $7,500 bail. Judge Nathaniel Peters denied the defense attorneys' requests to end the requirement for a third-party custodian - Mayeda has been remanded to a relative’s care - but said that he was open to revisiting the request if Mayeda succeeds in finding work.

His next hearing is scheduled for October 19.