A New Jersey man will appear in court for a pretrial conference today in connection with what officials have called the largest heroin operation Centre County has seen in recent memory.

Taji Lee, 24, was arrested Jan. 11 after he allegedly tried to sell cocaine and heroin to an undercover police officer. He is charged with 38 drug-related offenses, including a drug delivery resulting in the death of State College resident Boyd Francis.

Francis, an alleged heroin customer of Lee's, was found dead of a multi-drug overdose in his Vairo Boulevard apartment on Jan. 28, 2004, according to court documents. Eight heroin packets were found in his pockets, and Kenyon Ebeling, an alleged dealer for Lee, told the Patton Township

Police that she and Lee had delivered 30 packets of heroin to Francis that night.

Lee is also charged with delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal use of a communication facility and money laundering, according to court documents.

He is currently being held on $1.5 million bail in Centre County Prison.

Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Mike Madeira said this case is the largest heroin operation ever seen in the institutional memory of the agents and officers in Centre County.

"The commonwealth is alleging that he received multiple bundles and bricks of cocaine -- a street level value of $3,000 per brick -- and multiple ounces of crack and powdered cocaine -- which run from $900 to $1,400," Madeira said.

The value of the heroin and cocaine in 2003 and 2004 was estimated at $1.5 million.

In today's pretrial conference, Ronald McGlaughlin, Lee's attorney, said he plans to repetition the court for a lessened bail because his client has not received a speedy trial and his bail should reflect that.

Lee petitioned Judge Thomas Kistler for a nominal bail in a July 26 court appearance but was denied.

McGlaughlin said there are still requests pending to dismiss certain charges and recorded conversations. He added that there is a possibility of requesting a non-jury trial, but no plans were finalized.

He said the purpose of a pretrial conference is to confirm for the court that everything is ready for trial and jury selection, which will begin on Oct. 3.

"We have some housecleaning matters to clear up," he said. "This is more or less for the attorneys -- it will be very informal."