A Manhattan man found with nearly 20,000 fentanyl pills was arrested and later let loose, according to police. The New York Post reports that around 2:00 pm on Friday, police arrested 49-year-old Manuel Pagan in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood at 11th Avenue and West 30th Street.
According to court documents, he was found to be in possession of “approximately 20,000 multi-colored M-30 fentanyl pills.” Records show Pagan was charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. However, according to police sources, he was released on his own recognizance.
After recent modifications to the divisive 2019 criminal justice changes that forbade judges from setting bonds in most criminal cases, the charge is now permissible for bail under state law. The new amendments increased the list of offenses that qualified for bail and included Pagan’s charge of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled drug.
However, a representative for the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, who is in charge of the case, said Pagan was freed without bail despite the prosecution’s request that he be held on $100,000 cash bail or a $250,000 bond at his arraignment. Manhattan judge James Clyne freed him. Clyne also released a disturbed homeless man without bail last year amid a 36-hour crime spree in which the suspect stole cases of beer and property from subway passengers.
In Pagan’s case, Clyne mandated supervised release, which permits the drug suspect to roam the streets as long as he complies with specific requirements, some of which may include regular check-ins. Pagan is scheduled to return to court on December 15.
