City man pleads to fentanyl charges

Comes same day DEA announces program to crack down on drug

WARREN -- A Warren man pleaded guilty Thursday to a multiple-count case involving fentanyl-related compounds, the same day the federal Drug Enforcement Administration announced a new initiative to disrupt the flow of deadly fentanyl into areas like the Mahoning Valley.

Michael Crain, 46, of Van Wye Street SE, Warren, pleaded guilty before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice to two counts of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, possession of a fentanyl-related compound and having a weapon as a convicted felon.

Crain was named in a secret indictment Dec. 15, 2020, on eight charges, but he agreed to plead to a deal that called for him to be convicted of four charges. The plea deal headed off a scheduled trial that was set for May 10 in Rice's courtroom.

Crain was the subject of a drug investigation in December 2019 by the Trumbull Action Group task force where he sold .76 grams and .42 grams of a substance containing fentanyl to an informant. Also, he was stopped by Warren police Jan. 10, 2020, and officers found 1.99 grams of a fentanyl-related product along with a firearm, prosecutors said.

Crain, whose personal bond was reinstated by Rice and remains free, is to be sentenced June 3, court records show.

Meanwhile, the DEA announced Thursday the initiation of Project Wave Breaker, with the DEA Detroit office directing interdiction, enforcement and outreach efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl. Project Wave Breaker will focus on the activities of Mexican transnational criminal enterprises that are the primary suppliers of the deadly drug throughout the nation.

"Through this initiative, we're tackling a very real public health, public safety and national security threat, identifying the most egregious street-level networks in our communities and working our way up through the supply chain," DEA acting administrator D. Christopher Evans stated in a news release.

DEA special agent Keith Martin noted that fentanyl remains a deadly threat to residents of Ohio, Michigan and Northern Kentucky.

"We are seeing kilogram quantities flooding our neighborhoods, and it is largely coming from violent transnational cartels in Mexico like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel," Martin said. "These cartels have capitalized on the opioid epidemic and prescription drug misuse and abuse in the United States, manufacturing mass quantities of counterfeit prescription pills and fueling overdose deaths across our nation. This is a clear public health crisis."

The 11 DEA divisions participating in Project Wave Breaker -- Phoenix, New York, San Diego, New England, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, Houston, and El Paso -- are credited with 85 percent of all synthetic opioids seized by the agency in 2020, the news release states.

According to the most recently published CDC provisional data, more than 87,200 people died from an opioid overdose in 2020, marking the largest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period.