SOUTH PORTLAND — Police have arrested a South Portland man in connection with an opiate overdose death last Saturday that is believed to be the city’s third this year.

Stephen Lynch, 30, is charged with felony possession and aggravated trafficking of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate, police Lt. Frank Clark said Thursday. Lynch is being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland on $60,000 bail.

Lynch was arrested March 2 after police were dispatched to a South Portland residence where a 28-year-old man had been found dead by family members, Clark said. Items found at the scene led officers to suspect a possible drug overdose.

South Portland detectives and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officers then executed a search warrant at another South Portland residence, which led to Lynch’s arrest.

The case remains under investigation, with the specific cause of death pending a ruling from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. Lynch could face additional charges if investigators determine that he supplied drugs that directly contributed to the overdose death, Clark said.

This is the third suspected overdose death in South Portland this year, Clark said. The first was a 52-year-old man on Jan. 8 and the second was a 19-year-old man on Feb. 26. Both of those cases also remain under investigation.

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