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.