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Fatal overdose investigation leads to drug and weapons charges against felon

Steven J. Dang is facing federal charges after police say they found drugs and stolen handguns at his Grand Rapids home while investigating a July 21 overdose death.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A fatal overdose investigation has spurred federal charges against a Grand Rapids man after police located narcotics and stolen guns in the Southeast Side home where his girlfriend’s body was found.

Steven Journy Dang, 32, is facing drug and weapons charges stemming from a search of his home on Ardmore Street near Eastern Avenue SE.

Police on July 21 responded to a fatal overdose at the address; the victim was identified as Dang’s 27-year-old girlfriend. She was pronounced dead at 4:27 a.m. 

During a search of the home, officers found drugs, including cocaine, as well as six firearms, court records show.  

Dang is prohibited from having firearms because of prior felony convictions. Five loaded handguns and an AK-47 rifle were found in the house. Four of the handguns were reported stolen, according to court records.

A federal indictment charges Dang with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The date of the offense is listed as July 21; the same day police responded to his home.

Dang is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. A third count accuses him of possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison. 

Dang has a long list of arrests and drug-related prosecutions. His computerized criminal history “is littered with numerous prior felonies,’’ an investigator wrote in court records.

His most recent convictions, in November of 2015, are for delivery/manufacture of drugs and receiving/concealing stolen firearms. 

It stems from a search of his home in July of 2015 by Kentwood police. Officers found cocaine and heroin packaged for sale along with a handgun stolen in a 2010 home invasion, court records show.

Police also found scales and a cocaine cutting agent. Dang blamed the stolen handgun on the previous homeowners, saying they “must have left it in the house when they moved out,’’ court records show.

Dang got out of prison in January of 2018 in that case.

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