ROCHESTER, Minn. – Things in the southeast Minnesota drug trade must have been going pretty well for Jon Michael Ask if, as charged, he was doing big-time wholesaling or retailing. He didn’t show for a court hearing a week ago, forfeiting $1 million in bail money that he posted to assure he wouldn’t skip town. But apparently he did. A week earlier he also misssed a hearing in a separate case, which meant another $100,000 out the window. Actually it’s a bondsman who’s out the most for putting up the bail money. But if Ask’s bail arrangements with he bondsman were typical, he himself has lost only $110,000. Only? That’s a lot more than most of us have under the mattress. Ask, 46, was arrested in July in a traffic stop on Interstate 95. The stop led to the seizure of fentanyl-laced pills, quantities of cocaine and marijuana, and 80 rounds of ammunition. A few days later in another traffic stop, police seized of 48 grams of crack cocaine. Police then obtained search warrants for his home and another vehicle and found 137 grams of cocaine, 88 grams of a substance that tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, along with lesser quantities of crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy. So where is Ask now? The judge would like to know. The bondsman too. Also a bounty hunter.
Earlier: $1 million bail after massive drug haul