Sheriff Michael Bouchard displays drugs recovered in a Narcotics Enforcement Team investigation. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
If more than a dozen bags of illegal drugs weren’t recovered for display at the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, they would have ended up for sale throughout the area.
“They’ve been selling it all over, all across the county – it’s in every community,” said Sheriff Michael Bouchard at a March 21 press conference at the sheriff’s office in Pontiac. “People that are profiting off of this need to be stopped.”
Pontiac is one of the sources of illegal drugs into the Independence Township area, along with Detroit farther south and Flint and Saginaw to the north, all using the I-75 corridor, said Lt. Larry Perry, Independence Township substation commander.
“They weren’t meant to stay in the city of Pontiac – it was for distribution out to the users,” Perry said.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Narcotic Enforcement Team (NET) recovered the narcotics and arrested five men, George Booth, 40, of Pontiac; Kejuanta Deshaun Pickett, 33, of Pontiac; Clide Charles-Lamont Mathis, 44, of Novi; Eric Dwayne Mills, 44, of Eastpointe; and Rashad Isom Alston, 34, of Pontiac.
“In a time when we have opioid deaths among the leading causes of death in America, these are the kind of people that are profiting off of other people’s pain and death,” Bouchard said. “That’s why it’s such an important priority for us to take these folks out of business and off the streets.”
A NET team of investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, Farmington Hills Police Department, and West Bloomfield Police Department began their investigation in October 2018 of a large drug trafficking organization moving large quantities of heroin and cocaine.
“They did a great deal of surveillance and good old fashioned police work, and were able to put together the organization,” Bouchard said.
They established probable cause and obtained four search warrants in Pontiac, Southfield, and Eastpointe, resulting in the seizure of 1.5 kilos of cocaine, 1,022 grams of heroin and fentanyl mix, 37 grams which was pure fentanyl, 600 grams of cutting agents, 20 pounds of marijuana, digital scales, grinders, packaging material, a .40 caliber handgun, and $67,000 in cash. The street value of the seized narcotics totals over $500,000.
“This is killing people in every community,” Bouchard said. “This represents husbands, wives sons, daughters, people who get addicted to this and die from it, and they’re making money off it.”
Just the fentanyl seized in this case is estimated to be able to have killed over 18,000 people, he said.
Four of the suspects were arraigned in 50th District Court, March 15. Alston was arraigned on March 20. Three face life in prison if found guilty.
Mills was arraigned on two counts of Conspiracy to Commit, Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, punishable by up to life in prison; one count of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, life; two counts of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 450 to 999 grams, 30 years; and one count of Controlled Substance, Maintaining a Drug House, a 2-year misdemeanor.
Mathis was arraigned on two counts of Conspiracy to Commit, Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, life; one count of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, life; two counts of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 450 to 999 grams, 30 years; and one count of Controlled Substance, Maintaining a Drug House, 2-year Misdemeanor.
Booth was arraigned on two counts of Conspiracy to Commit, Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, life; one count of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 1,000 or more grams, life; two counts of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 450 to 999 grams, 30 years.
Alston was arraigned on two counts of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, 50 to 449 grams, 20 years and/or $250,000. Pickett was arraigned on one count of Delivery/Manufacture, Cocaine, Heroin, or Another Narcotic, less than 50 grams, 20 years and/ or $25,000.
Bonds for Mills, Mathis, and Booth were set at $100,000 cash surety or 10 percent. For Alston and Pickett, bonds were set at $50,000 cash surety or 10 percent. All five posted bond and were released from jail.
“The paperwork was not even dry and they’re already back out on the street,” Bouchard said. “That’s the frustration of the men and women that put their lives on the line to try to end this kind of death and destruction on our communities. Usually the determination of bond is based on flight risk or danger to the community. Well, I think the ability to kill over 18,000 people is a danger of the community. And given the potential incarceration lengths that they’re facing, in my opinion, that makes them a flight risk.”
Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana for adults last November, but marijuana is still used in illegal trafficking, Bouchard said.
“In this case, they were oftentimes taking the marijuana to Chicago and trading it for cocaine, so it becomes a currency of sorts,” he said. “These kinds of things are important for the legislature to step up and deal with. We’ve been asking them and they have yet to see any action.”
Oakland County also offers education, counseling, and treatment for mental health and substance abuse, he said.
“We’re not going to arrest our way out of the opioid crisis, but it’s a portion,” Bouchard said. “There has to be a very real component of punishment for those that are profiting off the death and misery of other people.”
Call Crime Stoppers of Southeast Michigan with anonymous tips at 1-800-SPEAK UP, or the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 1-888-TURN-1-IN OR 1-888-887-6146.