DETROIT FENTANYL SUSPECT IN COURT

He Faces Drug, Weapons Charges

A Detroit man whom authorities have called a significant dealer of a
deadly form of heroin had a basement laboratory and an armory to
defend it, according to court records reviewed Saturday.

Daren Reese, 45, was arraigned on drug and weapons charges Saturday
in Detroit's 36th District Court. Court records indicate that in an
earlier raid on Reese's home just northwest of I-94 and the Lodge
Freeway, officers found 63 grams of suspected heroin and an
undetermined amount of a crystallized white powder believed to be
fentanyl, a prescription painkiller being mixed on the streets with
heroin to create a more intense -- and potentially lethal -- high.

Officers said they didn't weigh the white powder at the scene because
of health concerns.

The substances were found in Reese's basement, along with powdered
cutting agents, 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.

Authorities also reported finding a loaded 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun
with a pistol grip, and a bullet-resistant vest. Upstairs, officers
found an unspecified amount of more suspected heroin in a kitchen
cabinet and three loaded pistols -- one by the front door and two in
the master bedroom. There also was $5,500 in cash and 21.2 grams of
suspected marijuana near the bed.

Reese lives in the 1200 block of Elijah McCoy, near the Jeffries
housing project, where authorities say he kept street dealers
supplied with drugs.

The raid followed Reese's arrest in a traffic stop earlier Thursday.
Wayne County Sheriff's deputies and federal agents had been watching
him after receiving information from a drug user who was found
unconscious in a car recently in Highland Park. The 22-year-old
suburban woman, whom authorities have not identified, cooperated in
the hunt for the source of fentanyl-laced heroin, a plague in several
areas of the country and the cause of about 130 deaths in Wayne
County since 2005.

Officers said they found 83 packets of drugs in Reese's pocket after
they pulled over his 2006 Cadillac in Detroit. Tests later confirmed
the packets contained fentanyl and heroin, court records show.

On Saturday, Reese was ordered held on $200,000 cash bond during his
arraignment on 10 charges involving drugs and weapons. Reese, who has
past convictions related to drugs and robbery, also is charged with
being a habitual offender.

Wayne County assistant prosecutor Karen Plants had asked Magistrate
Sidney Barthwell Jr. for an even higher cash bond -- $500,000 --
contending Reese was dangerous.

"This gentleman is the latest incarnation of Dr. Death," Plants said in court

Reese's lawyer, Paul Curtis of Detroit, objected to Plants' remarks
as "scurrilous and inflammatory," but Barthwell agreed with Plants
and ordered a significant bond.

A group of people apparently in court to see Reese did not comment as
they left the building.

Afterward, Curtis defended his client, saying: "What's going on is
politics going on."

Sheriff Warren Evans, who met with reporters after the arraignment,
said Reese was a mid-level supplier to street dealers, and that his
arrest will make a dent in drug dealing, particularly around the
Jeffries project.

But, Evans warned: "This is not a time for people to think this is
over. ...It's a scourge."