A Luling man, who was arrested after police say they found six methamphetamine labs inside a vacant Ellington Avenue business he owned, pled guilty last week but will likely avoid jail time.
Jerald J. Medina, of 402 Barton Ave., had closed down a repair shop and began operating it as a meth lab, authorities said. Medina was originally charged with two counts of production and manufacturing of a schedule II drug, but pled guilty to one amended charge of creating a clandestine lab and was given a deferred five-year sentence with the Department of Corrections.
A deferred sentence means that if the defendant successfully completes a period of probation, the charge is dismissed without a conviction being entered. The result is that the person can truthfully deny having been convicted of the underlying criminal offense.
Medina was eligible for the deferred sentence because it was his first offense.
Medina was also given five years of active probation and ordered to complete a substance abuse evaluation and follow recommendations for treatment. He must pay a $750 fine and pay restitution to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office in the amount of $1,988.89 for clean-up of the lab. He was given credit for time served.
“I hope you learned your lesson the hard way,” Judge Lauren Lemmon told Medina during the sentencing.
Police raided Medina’s vacant business after receiving tips from concerned residents who had noticed suspicious activity at the location, according to Sgt. Dwayne LaGrange, Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
“Detectives began to survey the area and tracked Jerald Medina,” LaGrange said. “They found him walking on the railroad tracks near the business and he was holding a container that contained drugs.”
Authorities then searched Medina’s home and business, and found six meth labs in the vacant store on Ellington Avenue.
“Some of the labs were hidden but some were in plain sight,” LaGrange said. “He had been doing this for quite some time and we are glad that we were able to build a case against him and shut the labs down.”
LaGrange said that underground meth labs have popped up all over the country, but that St. Charles Parish hasn’t been much of a hotbed for meth activity.
“We have had incidents similar to this in the past, but it is rare for our area compared to other parishes,” LaGrange said. “These meth labs are very dangerous because people who run them are mixing all kinds of things that shouldn’t go together and the labs can create serious problems.”
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