CORTLAND - A law enforcement task force said it dismantled a methamphetamine lab Monday in which the drugs were being manufactured inside a home where two children younger than 10 lived.
Charles Fisher, 30, 292 North Bank St., pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of third-degree felony possessing chemicals to manufacture methamphetamine and third-degree felony child endangering at his arraignment in Trumbull County Central District Court. He is being held in the Trumbull County Jail on $70,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next Wednesday.
The children's mother, Krysten Weldy, 25, faces the same charges, in addition to theft and two counts of felony drug abuse and two counts of misdemeanor drug abuse stemming from a Thursday arrest that sparked the investigation by the Trumbull and Astabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force.
Weldy has pleaded not guilty to all charges and her felony charges were bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury Wednesday. She remains jailed on $39,000 bond.
More charges will be sought when the case is presented to the grand jury.
TAG Lt. Jeff Orr said Fisher and Weldy lived in the basement of the home.
Orr said meth-making labs are rare in the county.
"We only have about five labs per year in the last five years," Orr said. "On the other hand, we have the complete opposite in Ashtabula, where there's about 20 labs a year minimum."
Police reports state that Bazetta Police arrested Weldy on the drug charges for possessing meth. TAG officers went to her home for a follow-up investigation and, when they searched Fisher, they found he possessed drug paraphernalia, reports state.
The two children were inside the home at the time and officers searched for him outside.
Investigators found other drug-making items, including broken light bulbs used for smoking meth and a large quantity of matches used in the cooking process. They also found foil, a propane torch, more matches, coffee filters with iodine, paperwork and jars of chemical samples, reports state.
Fisher told investigators he cooked the meth outside even though officers found chemicals in the basement, reports state. He also told officers he disposed of the waste product in Greene.
Trumbull County HAZMAT and Cortland police assisted.
Orr said he believes the lab was more of an isolated incident.
"It's not creeping in," he said. "It could be here a little more and we're not seeing it, but it certainly hasn't reached the level of Ashtabula."