FARMINGTON — A Franklin County justice Friday set bail for a Wilton man charged with drug possession at $50,000 cash or $100,000 worth of real estate.

Dennis J. Ayala, 55, was arrested Tuesday on charges of unlawful possession of a drug containing fentanyl powder and violating bail conditions.

Maine State Police, Wilton police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency executed a search warrant and found Ayala hiding in the attic of his home on Temple Road where marijuana was growing, according to a state police affidavit filed with the court. 

Tests indicated white powder residue on a scale was fentanyl, an opioid drug used as a pain medication.

Ayala was out on bail from an arrest in April on a felony charge pertaining to selling crack cocaine, the result of an investigation after a fatal drug overdose in Franklin County.

Deputy District Attorney James Andrews this week filed a motion to revoke Ayala’s $5,000 cash bail on the earlier charge. Conditions on the April charge included no use or possession of illegal drugs or marijuana.

Ayala’s lawyer, Margo Joly, told Justice Roland Cole on Friday that the most recent tax bill from Ayala’s home in Wilton shows his property is valued at $87,024, but that does not include a garage that was built. She said Ayala told her he could also collect funds of $40,000 to meet the property bail.

Cole told Joly it was up to her to prove to the bail commissioner that Ayala’s property is valued at $100,000.

Cole set a curfew requiring Ayala to be home from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily and to cooperate with law enforcement in searching his property and randomly searching and testing for illegal drugs and marijuana. 

Dennis Ayala

(Franklin County Detention Center)