"It's all lies" relative defends man charged in fentanyl case tied to Baltimore mass overdoses

Judges denied bail at separate hearings on Friday for two suspects arrested in recent raids, which, according to court testimony, are tied to mass overdoses in Baltimore City.

The arrests earlier this week involved federal agents working with a specialized city police unit.

"It's all lies"

Inside a home on Chalgrove Avenue in Northwest Baltimore's Park Heights neighborhood, police found what a judge called "significant" quantities of heroin and fentanyl along with drug paraphernalia.

They made three arrests, serving a search warrant along with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

It happened around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the same time, police raided several other homes in Baltimore City in connection with mass overdoses earlier this year in Penn North that sickened more than 30 people. 

A woman, who asked that WJZ Investigates not use her name, has close ties to Devin Isaiah, one of those arrested in Park Heights. 

She is the mother of one of his daughters and spoke outside the court. 

"It's all lies. He's a hardworking man. He stays out of trouble. He stays to himself," she told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "These accusations that they are putting on him are false. He has nothing to do with anything they're saying."

She denied that Isaiah had any involvement in the bad batch of drugs that led to the overdoses in Penn North.

In one of the overdoses, a powerful veterinary sedative called medetomidine was found in two drug samples. 

In Wabash District Court on Friday, a prosecutor told Judge LaTina Greene the arrests are part of "raids done in connection with two separate mass incidents of overdose."

That drew a quick objection from Isaiah's attorney, Creston Smith, who argued that nothing about mass overdoses was mentioned in his client's charging documents. 

Judge Greene noted the overdose crisis in Baltimore and said, "Fentanyl kills. In light of that, he's a threat to public safety." 

She ordered him to stay behind bars. 

"I think they're just looking for someone to blame," his daughter's mother said. "He hasn't been in trouble for a very long time."

"No comment"

The family of 63-year-old Mary Henry declined comment after another judge held her without bail. Henry was also arrested at the home in Park Heights. 

Henry's lawyer, Daniel Mooney, had no comment outside court, but during her bail review, Mooney told Judge Theresa Morse, "It sounds like she just got caught up in another person's criminal actions."

Unpersuaded, Judge Morse cited "a significant, significant amount of CDS recovered throughout this location in very visible areas" and called Henry a "threat to public safety." 

She ordered her held behind bars. 

Henry opened the door for the police when they served the search warrant on Wednesday. Mooney insisted she was not the target of the investigation. 

Melvin Battle, a third defendant arrested in the home, was released Thursday on a $50,000 unsecured bond. 

Police continued to be tight-lipped about the Penn North overdose investigation and told WJZ Friday, "The investigation remains open and ongoing."

WJZ's news partner, The Banner, first reported on Wednesday's raids.  

Baltimore City state's attorney Ivan Bates spoke about the law enforcement actions earlier this week, "At this moment in time, I don't have any comment on that. I think at the appropriate time, we'll go ahead and be able to talk about other issues, other cases, potential cases."