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Man receives three years in West Side meth lab case
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
One of three people accused of operating a West Side methamphetamine lab in a home with six children present will serve three years in prison.
Mark Cartwright, 36, of Manhattan Avenue, pleaded guilty Thursday to illegal manufacture of drugs and illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacturing of drugs.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney imposed the three-year sentence.
In August, the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force served a search warrant at 1939 Manhattan Ave.
Inside the home, where six children under age 13 lived, members of the task force said they found evidence of methamphetamine production.
Investigators said they found two separate labs – one in a basement and another in a car in the driveway.
A member of the task force described the home as a “small bomb.”
While Cartwright pleaded guilty to the charges, he told the court his days of getting into trouble are behind him. On the day in question, he said he went to work and came home and had no part in making methamphetamine.
“One thing I would never do is cook methamphetamine in a house full of kids,” Cartwright told the court.
Cartwright also pleaded guilty to two counts of felony vandalism in an unrelated case. For those charges he received a year in prison, to be served concurrently with the sentence in the meth lab case.
Two co-defendants accused of manufacturing methamphetamine with Cartwright, Glenn Lambert, 38, and Nicole Lambert, 26, both of Manhattan Avenue, have charges pending before the court.
The Lamberts face child-endangering charges in addition to the illegal manufacture and assembly charges to which Cartwright pleaded guilty.
They both have pretrial hearings scheduled before Judge Sweeney on Jan. 26.