Business owner pleads guilty to drug charge

Staff report

LISBON

Peter M. Lynch, 53, co-owner of the coffee shops Friends Roastery in Salem and Friends Speciality in Youngstown, pleaded guilty as charged to drug possession at the third-degree felony level.

Lynch entered his plea Wednesday before Judge Scott A. Washam of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at 11:15 a.m. Oct. 16.

Lynch could be sentenced to probation or up to three years in prison and be fined up to $10,000, but his lawyer, C. Bruce Williams of Salem, said he considered his client, who has no prior criminal record, “a strong candidate for probation.”

Lynch’s wife, Patricia Tinkler, 51, co-owner of the coffee shops, who also is charged with drug possession, is scheduled for a 10 a.m. Oct. 9 hearing before the same judge on her motion for drug treatment in lieu of conviction.

The Columbiana County Drug Task Force said it executed a search warrant last Oct. 1 at the couple’s Summit Street home in Salem and found about 5 pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a pistol in the home and garage after a yearlong investigation.