$9 MILLION IN HEROIN PUTS MAN INTO JAIL

Detroit Police Also Seize $300,000 And Firearms

A 31-year-old man was arraigned Sunday on charges of possessing $9 million
worth of heroin. Detroit police said they found the drugs in his west side
home Friday and at least $300,000 in cash in a home he owned in Canton.

Willie James Hayes, whose Detroit home was in the 12600 block of Grandmont
Avenue, was formally charged at 36th District Court with seven counts
stemming from the Friday raid. In addition to the heroin, the charges cover
firearms possession and being a habitual offender. He faces a life sentence
if convicted on the main drug charge.

Hayes is being held without bond at the Wayne County Jail.

Prosecutors and his attorney said Sunday that Hayes was previously
convicted of possession of cocaine.

After surveillance, police said, they used a search warrant Friday night at
the Grandmont home. They found five kilograms of heroin in a bedroom,
$8,000 in a closet, seven firearms throughout the house and evidence
suggesting Hayes had another home, said Maurice Morton, Wayne County
assistant prosecutor for drug operations.

Detroit police raided the Canton home Saturday. No arrests were made, but
the cash was confiscated.

The Detroit home was unoccupied, but Hayes, who told police he fixed houses
for a living, has a Michigan driver's license at that address, according to
police. Hayes told officials the home was his, that nobody lived there --
"not yet anyway."

During Sunday's hearing, assistant Wayne County prosecutor Molly Kettler
said officers had to use an automated counter to determine the amount of
money at the Canton home.

"There were just boxes and boxes of cash," Kettler told the court.

Cornelius Pitts, an attorney representing Hayes, argued during the hearing
that his client should receive bail, saying "this man is entitled to the
same type of treatment as anyone else in the accusatory phase."

But Magistrate Charles W. Anderson III denied bail.

Morton called the arrest a major victory in the city's war on drugs, saying
the arrest will reduce violence.

Rich Isaacson, a Detroit special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency, said removing five kilograms of heroin off the streets could affect
the drug's price in metro Detroit.

Morton does not anticipate any other arrests related to this case, but said
officials are investigating.

Hayes's preliminary examination is scheduled for May 31.