Couple indicted in meth lab case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An Austintown couple who police say had a methamphetamine lab at their home were indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury Thursday.

Sharry Smart, 32, and Thomas Smart, 40, both of Ohltown Road, were indicted on charges of illegal manufacture of drugs, illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs and possession of drugs with a forfeiture specification.

The couple has been in the county jail on $100,000 bond since their arraignments on the charges in county court in Austintown on Aug. 13.

Their home was raided by the Mahoning County Drug Task Force and agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Aug. 5. Two children in the home were turned over to the care of relatives.

Inside the home, agents found chemicals that could be used to make methamphetamine, and there also was some of the drug on hand that had been made.

The raid culminated an investigation that was on and off for about a year.

Police said the couple was making arrangements to leave town after the raid, so they were arrested just before their arraignment in county court.