There are no blood ties between William Lee, 45, and Dameon Sanders, 21.

But when Sanders was arrested Sept. 25 and charged with four felony counts of delivery of a controlled substance, Lee drove across town to see him at Cook County Jail. When Sanders appeared in Circuit Court in Skokie, Lee was there lobbying to reduce his bail.

Sanders was one of 21 people the Evanston Police Department and Cook County Sheriff’s Office arrested near Evanston Township High School in a two-day sting.

Police say that on March 7, Sanders sold less than one gram of cocaine to an undercover police officer at the northwest corner of Church Street and Brown Avenue, according to court documents. Police say he made another sale on April 27 to an officer on that corner. Sanders, whose name was listed as “Damien” in police reports, was arrested almost five months later.

Lee met Sanders when Sanders was a 9-year-old living across the street on Darrow Avenue. Sanders, one of seven boys in his family, would visit Lee with his brother.

At first, Sanders sat on Lee’s porch, quiet and shy. He liked to sit around, drawing and watching cartoons.

“If the other kids played football, he was mostly on the sidelines,” Lee said.

As Sanders got older, he helped Lee rake leaves and mow the lawn. The two played the video game Pac-Man for hours.

So when Sanders asked to leave the jail – “Get me out of this hell hole,” he said – Lee responded with a detailed plan.

The Evanston, Skokie and Chicago residents arrested in the sting are between 15 and 30 years old. Under Illinois law, charges are automatically raised one felony criminal class for offenders charged with dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school, park or church.

In pre-trial motions at Circuit Court in Skokie, Sanders’ bail was reduced from $60,000 to $20,000. Lee needs to post 10 percent of that, or $2,000, to get Sanders out. If Sanders is convicted, he could face up to 16 years in prison.

By Nov. 14, Lee plans to raise more than $2,000 in bail money for Sanders, the “stepson” he hopes he has not let down.

Lee’s days are busy pursuing his goal.

The tallish man in the loose-fitting San Francisco Giants cap and paint-covered jeans restores furniture and antiques most days.

Before Sept. 25, Lee sold the fixed-up desks and chairs to make a living. Now that money is for Sanders.

In the month that Sanders has been in the Cook County Jail, Lee has held garage sales, visited flea markets all over the Chicago area and restored an oil painting he hopes to sell at auction.

So far, Lee has raised about $1,000. He’s hoping to get the rest from a garage sale at 9 a.m. Saturday at 2031 Warren St.

At night, Lee waits by the phone. Sanders calls his grandmother and mother in Evanston and asks to be put on a three-way line with Lee, who lives in Chicago. There’s no telling when the phone will ring.

It’s difficult to talk to Sanders on the phone, Lee said. But it’s easier than at the jail, where Lee said he has to scream over a plastic divider to be heard.

Lee remembers Sanders suffering under peer pressure in high school. Lee was not surprised that the 5-foot-8-inch, 125-pound teen became a follower.

By the time he was 16, Sanders had been arrested on charges of retail theft and burglary. He had been kicked out of several schools, the “last ones being therapeutic day schools,” according to a psychological assessment completed in October 1996 by the Cook County Juvenile Court Forensic Clinical Services.

In the assessment, which Lee provided, Sanders reported “difficulties making friends and stated at one point that he had no friends.” Sanders acknowledged the use of marijuana and alcohol. He said he was in a gang, but got out because “it caused him too much trouble,” according to the assessment.

Sanders talked to Lee about everything, Lee said. Lee warned him before he was arrested, but Sanders became defensive and Lee stopped pushing.

When Sanders is released on bail, Lee hopes he won’t have to push anymore.

Medill senior Mike Saewitz can be reached at [email protected]