Second Detroit man accused in drug ring to remain in custody

The second of a pair of Detroit men who allegedly led an armed group that sold fentanyl-laced opioids, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday.

Jason Darnell Smith, 22, aka “Famous” or “Sweets,” of Livonia, Mich., entered a plea of not guilty but agreed to the federal government’s motion to detain him Thursday. His attorney, Lynn Panagakos, said she would soon be subbed out for an attorney from Michigan.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom Trader asked Smith whether he was prepared to remain in custody for the purposes of Thursday’s hearing.

“I believe so, yes,” replied Smith by phone from the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu. Trader asked Smith whose decision it was to remain in custody.

“Mine,” replied Smith.

“If something changes, you’re certainly free to make the motion,” said Trader, speaking during the hearing. “Mr. Smith has consented to detention, and with that I will grant the government’s motion to detain.”

Smith will remain in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.

He allegedly conspired with fellow Michigan resident Gabriel Antone Eberhardt, aka “Stacks,” to control and operate the “criminal conduct” of their organization, according to court documents.

Eberhardt is also being held at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, pending trial.

Smith was arrested Aug. 30 in Detroit and extradited to Hawaii where he will stand trial with Eberhardt and five other alleged co-conspirators on Aug. 1 at 8:30 a.m. Smith and Eberhardt were indicted on 17 counts Aug. 19, including distribution of a substance containing fentanyl and distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

The group of Michigan and Hawaii residents is accused in a 17-count indictment of selling opioids such as oxycodone tablets and counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and oxycodone, methamphetamine, the fentanyl-based street drug “Ghan” and “Afghan White,” fentanyl-laced heroin.

In addition to “personally making sales of methamphetamine and fentanyl to an undercover officer,” Smith allegedly directed the undercover officer to several of the group’s subordinate co-conspirators to “obtain controlled substances on future occasions.”

Like Eberhardt, the federal government alleges that Smith used an array of weapons to protect the drug trafficking, “and the conspiracy was marked by the possession of a significant number of firearms,” according to the federal government’s motion to detain him.

When investigators executed search warrants at residences, storage units and a clandestine drug lab on Middle Street on June 30 and July 1, investigators seized a total of $250,000 in cash, four assault rifles, four semi-automatic pistols, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, multiple magazines and a bulletproof vest, according to court documents.

A large amount of illegal drugs also was taken by a team of federal agents and Honolulu police, including more than “eight pounds of fentanyl (in powder and more than 2,700 counterfeit prescription tablets), two pounds of heroin, three pounds of (actual) methamphetamine, and other suspected controlled substances for which lab testing is pending; and drug processing and packaging paraphernalia,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Smith has an extensive criminal record in Hawaii and Michigan and was on parole until July 2020.

Smith has nine Hawaii felony convictions for second-­degree robbery, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Feb. 23, 2010. On that date he also pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree theft, and received a sentence of five years.

Smith has several felony charges in Michigan from 2001 to 2007, according to court documents. In one incident he was arrested for allegedly breaking into a Halloween store the day before the holiday.