'If only' Judge D'Apolito tells drug defendant

YOUNGSTOWN

Judge Lou D’Apolito told Bryan Dilling the words “if only” apply to him.

Just before accepting a plea Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court from Dilling, 44, on charges he was running a methamphetamine lab in a trailer he was staying at in Goshen Township, Judge D’Apolito told Dilling if he put all the energy he wasted trying to stay out of jail or not get caught doing bad things, there is no telling what his life might have become.

“You’ve got a bright mind,” Judge D’Apolito told him. “If you would just direct that brain power to something legitimate, I think you would succeed.”

Dilling pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, illegal assembly of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs and possession of drugs.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris is recommending a sentence of five years. Sentencing will take place after a pre-sentence investigation.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.