# 17  Dealer selling Fentanyl as Heroin is convicted and jailed in homicide case.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e0574cb5db73484fb5d569b66192d144/prosecution-trend-after-fatal-od-dealer-charged-death

After reading the above article this week, I wrote the below email to the AP reporter:

Dear Ms. Cohen,

I read the referenced article and, as a former Narcotics Investigator in Virginia, I welcomed a trend that has States Prosecuting Dealers when their products result in deaths due to substances which are far more potent that the advertised substance; Heroin.

From a Journalistic/Human Interest perspective, I can appreciate why you focused on a victim (Ed Martin III) and a perpetrator/dealer (Michael Millette).

As a former Narcotics Detective, after reading of Mr. Millette's remorse, I have to wonder why the article did not reference the person(s) who Millette relied upon to obtain his supply of Fentanyl.  I doubt that it was cooked-up in some shoddy lab and I suspect that the substance was pharmaceutical grade and that some serious players are involved in intercepting this poison (from the point of manufacture) to sell it to distributors like Millette...for profit.  Surely Maine and Federal Authorities would welcome these facts from Mr. Millette...it may be time for Millette to sing, if he's truly remorseful.

On the other hand, if he is actively protecting his source, the readers have every right to question the degree of his remorse for Martin's death.

Perhaps a Part II will address this aspect of the case not referenced in your article.  I hope so.

Thank you,

Phil Hannum

Fairfax, Va