OLDEST DEALER? MAN, 76, CLAIMS IGNORANCE

Elba Township - Robert E. Rees, 76, knew his tenant had parties, but
he said he had no idea the parties may have included illegal drugs.

But that is not how police and prosecutors see it. They have charged
the septuagenarian with maintaining a drug house and say he
obstructed and resisted arrest.

"In my memory, (Rees) is the oldest person we have prosecuted for a
drug-related offense," said Lapeer County Prosecutor Byron Konschuh.

Rees, who is free after posting $2,500 bond pending a pretrial
examination Thursday, said the rap on him is a bum one.

"Me, being the house owner, they say I maintained a drug house," Rees
said. "I guess I did, but I didn't even know it."

Antonio E. Webb, 35, who Rees said rented part of his Hadley Road
house for 12 years, was bound over to circuit court Tuesday on a
series of felony charges in connection with an Oct. 31 narcotics raid
by the Thumb Narcotics Unit.

A gram of crack cocaine and marijuana cigarettes and seeds were found
in a dresser at the residence.

Webb faces felony charges of delivery of cocaine less than 50 grams
and manufacturing marijuana. He also faces misdemeanor charges of
contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The latter charge stemmed from the discovery of a 4-year-old in the
house during the Halloween night raid. The child was found playing a
Nintendo video game about 3 a.m., when officers conducted the raid.

A 14-year-old also was found in the house. Neither child belongs to
Rees or Webb, but Webb brought them to the house from Flint, Konschuh
said.

After police completed the investigation and laboratory tests on the
suspected cocaine and marijuana found during the October raid, Webb
and Rees were arrested on warrants issued by Konschuh.

Konschuh said the resisting charge was issued because Rees refused to
pull his hands from under the covers during the raid and then fought
police during the arrest.

"They came into my room at 2 a.m. or a little after, told me to get
out of bed," Rees said. "I was not clothed, and they pounced on me.
They tried to pull my arm under me, and like most 70-year-olds, I
suffer from arthritis."

Rees, a retired farmer and Buick employee, said he never before has
been in trouble. He lives on Hadley Road near I-69, which was built
through the family farm in 1964.

"(Webb) used to have friends coming over and playing cards, having a
good time, but I absolutely don't use drugs," Rees said. "This is a
big surprise."

The elderly defendant admitted he sometimes shared a swig of whiskey with Webb.

"I lived my life, and he lived his," Rees said.