KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? A fire captain was ordered to stand trial on charges of distributing methamphetamine from the fire station where he worked.

Evidence against David J. Bortka is sufficient for the case to go to trial, Wyandotte County District Judge R. Wayne Lampson said after a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Bortka, an 18-year veteran of the department, is charged with seven felony counts, including selling methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a middle school.

He was suspended without pay after his arrest June 21. Bortka is free on $50,000 bond, which would rise to $100,000 if he fails random drug testing, Lampson said.

According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, Bortka gave methamphetamine to an informant at his fire station in June. Police then found eight individually wrapped bags of methamphetamine in his duffel bag at the station and later discovered other drugs at his home and barn in Kansas City, Kan.

The search also yielded materials needed to make methamphetamine and more than $7,000 cash.

Defense attorney Edward C. Gillette emphasized that Bortka did not accept money from the informant when he gave her drugs on June 20.

But Assistant Dist. Atty. Tristram Hunt said Kansas law didn’t require that money be exchanged for a person to be charged with selling drugs.