43
Prosecutors recommend 5 years in Goshen meth lab case
By Joe Gorman
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.
Paris said the charges were filed after Goshen police received an anonymous tip in February 2015 that Dilling had materials to make methamphetamine in a trailer he was staying in. Police went to investigate. When they knocked on the door, they saw the materials right away.
Dilling’s plea averted a jury trial that was to begin Tuesday.
Dilling told the judge he had been taking drugs since he was 14. He served 15 years in prison after being convicted of a sexual offense and also had other prison stints for drugs. Dilling said in all that time he has never been offered any kind of help for his drug problem.
“It’s always been lock him up and throw away the key,” Dilling said. “I’ve spent 20 years in prison, all because of me getting high and doing drugs.”
Judge D’Apolito said though he understands some of that, it was up to Dilling to get himself help once he knew he had a problem and not wait for someone else to do it.
“When you have the problem you have, you have the obligation, as smart as you are, to get yourself some help,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Dilling told the judge he dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, but has earned his general education development diploma and has taken some college classes at the University of Findlay.