Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2006
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2006 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Jim Schaefer, Free Press Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

FENTANYL SUSPECT IS ORDERED TO TRIAL

A man whom Detroit authorities have called a significant dealer of 
the painkiller fentanyl was ordered by a judge Wednesday to stand trial.

Daren Reese, 45, of Detroit faces 10 criminal charges involving guns 
and drugs. Wayne County sheriff's officials accuse Reese of selling 
heroin laced with fentanyl, a potentially lethal combination, in and 
around the Jeffries public housing project on the east side of the 
Lodge Freeway near I-94.

After listening to limited testimony Wednesday, Judge Nancy Blount of 
36th District Court in Detroit ordered Reese to stand trial in Wayne 
County Circuit Court. No trial date was set, and Reese remained 
jailed in lieu of $200,000 bond.

Police raided Reese's home in the 1200 block of Elijah McCoy on June 
22 and found a laboratory where they suspect he was mixing the two 
drugs in his basement. Deputies testified Wednesday that they found 
several loaded weapons and more than $5,500 in Reese's bedroom.

Authorities previously reported finding 63 grams of suspected heroin 
and an undetermined amount of a crystallized white powder believed to 
be fentanyl. Dealers illegally mix fentanyl, a prescription 
painkiller, with heroin to create a more intense high that can be deadly.

Wayne County authorities have cited more than 130 deaths related to 
fentanyl since January 2005.

In the raid, deputies also found powdered cutting agents, which are 
used as filler in drugs, about 100 grams of suspected marijuana, 
coffee grinders with suspected heroin residue, protective face masks, 
aluminum foil packets, razor blades, sifters and numerous Ziploc-type 
baggies, according to an investigator's report contained in Reese's court file.

Paul Curtis, Reese's lawyer, argued in court Wednesday that 
authorities had no probable cause to search Reese's home and arrest 
him in a traffic stop that same day. But Blount barred Curtis from 
delving into the subject, saying she did not wish to consider the 
validity of the search warrant Wednesday. She ruled instead there was 
enough evidence for Reese to stand trial on the charges.
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