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TWO ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:15 AM CST

Because of prior dealings with a Pine Bluff man, a police detective knew the man’s driver’s license was suspended and when he saw the man driving, stopped the car and arrested the man and a passenger on drug-related charges.

During a court hearing Friday, vice and narcotics Detective Brett Talley said he recognized Dontel Spraglin, 32, who was driving a gold Buick near 21st Avenue and Pine Street Wednesday at about 4:30 p.m. because he had worked a previous case involving Spraglin, and had reviewed the file prior to a court hearing on that case Thursday.

Reading from an affidavit from Talley, Deputy Prosecutor Jill Reed said Talley and drug task force Investigator John Hughes turned on their blue lights in an effort to stop the car, which traveled a few blocks before pulling over near 20th Avenue and Beech Street.

Talley reported that the passenger in the car, Danny Lee, 27, also of Pine Bluff, ran from the car and was chased down and arrested.

Reed said Talley found a large glass jar containing a green leafy vegetable substance in Lee’s jacket pocket. The substance field tested positive for marijuana and weighed 2.4 ounces.

Talley reported that Lee was “acting strangely” and after explaining to Lee that if he had other drugs and carried them into the adult detention center he would face an additional charge, Lee pulled out a bag containing eight pink and four green pills that Talley believed to be ecstasy, and a bag containing an off-white rocklike substance that field tested positive for cocaine and weighed 4.4 grams.

Reed said the pills will be sent to the state crime lab at Little Rock to determine their content because field tests were inconclusive.

Lee reportedly claimed “the drugs were not his,” Talley said in the affidavit, and during testimony Friday, Talley said Lee told him that “he was given the drugs by Dontel Spraglin and told to run.”

Reed said Spraglin has a criminal history dating back to 1996 that includes a number of drug-related charges, including a 2008 charge of two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, which is set for trial in February 2010, and a charge of theft by receiving from earlier this year.

She said Lee’s criminal history dates from 2000 and he has a pending case set for trial next year.

Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr. ruled prosecutors had probable cause to charge both Spraglin and Lee with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver marijuana and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver cocaine. Lee could also be charged with misdemeanor fleeing, the judge said.

Wyatt did not find probable cause on the suspected ecstasy but told Reed to amend the charges when the crime laboratory report is complete and the pills identified.

A $50,000 bond was set for both Spraglin and Lee, and they were told to come back to court Jan. 4.

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