CONCORD — A former prison chaplain accused of smuggling and selling phones and drugs to federal inmates is being held without bail after a judge found he breached two conditions of his pre-trial release.

Joseph Buenviaje, 53, of Berlin, was indicted in November for “bribery of a public official” and “providing or possessing contraband in prison,” according to U.S. District Court of New Hampshire records. The charges allege he sold marijuana, Suboxone and tobacco to inmates in the men’s federal prison in Berlin for about $12,000 during 2018, when inmates owed him another $3,000 to $5,000.

In February, Buenviaje asked the court for permission to travel across the country to help his family move, but that request was denied. A month later, according to a memo by federal probation officer Matthew Farwell, Buenviaje left the state "without permission and against the order of the Court." In addition to violating that condition of his release on bail, Farwell wrote, Buenviaje failed to attend a court-ordered counseling appointment and did not reschedule it.

The probation officer filed that information with the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire with a request for a warrant for Buenviaje's arrest for a bail-revocation hearing. Following that hearing, Judge Andrea Johnston issued an order revoking Buenviaje's bail while finding he "is unlikely to abide by any condition or combination of conditions of release." He was ordered incarcerated while "afforded a reasonable opportunity for private consultation with defense counsel."

In his failed bid to take a two-week cross-country trip, Buenviaje wrote to the court that after he was investigated, “his world came crashing down.” He reported that he was indicted, fired and then was, “the subject of adverse press coverage,” which left him unable to find work.