Judge: No bond for defendant in drug death case
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Washington County sheriff’s deputies escort Nicholas G. Retos into the Washington County Courthouse for his preliminary hearing in March.
Justin P. Platt
A Washington County judge denied a request to set bond for a man charged with a drug delivery that prosecutors maintain caused the overdose death of Justin P. Platt of Washington.
After hearing testimony Friday morning, Judge Valarie Costanzo ordered sheriff’s deputies to return Nicholas G. Retos, 34, of East Washington, to the county jail.
“This court finds that no condition or combination of conditions other than imprisonment will reasonably assure the safety of the community,” the judge determined.
Retos’ lawyer, Komron Jon Maknoon, declined to comment immediately when asked if he intended to appeal the order.
Assistant District Attorney Rachel Wheeler objected to Maknoon’s attempt to have his client confined by house arrest or other conditions of bail.
“This is a death case,” Wheeler told the judge. “He admitted he sold stamp bags with a blue dollar sign after knowing he caused the death.”
Maknoon said Retos, a Washington & Jefferson College graduate, has a substance abuse problem but that his only contact with law enforcement were charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and retail theft in 2017 that resulted in a year’s probation without verdict.
Platt, 31, of East Maiden Street, was found dead or dying Feb. 2 with red stamp bags containing fentanyl-laced heroin and bearing the blue mark of a dollar bill.
At a preliminary hearing last month, Coroner Tim Warco testified a combination of cocaine and fentanyl caused Platt’s death.
Amara Czech, Platt’s girlfriend, also testified at the hearing that they had smoked crack cocaine the day before the victim’s death, but that the cocaine was purchased from someone other than Retos. She later participated with the Washington County Drug Task Force in a controlled purchase of heroin Feb. 27 on LeMoyne Avenue from Retos, which resulted in his arrest. Czech has not been charged.
Retos also was formally arraigned in court Friday morning. He faces additional charges of drug possession with intent to deliver, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Costanzo scheduled a pretrial conference for early June.