Loyalhanna man sentenced in connection with raid on suspected meth lab
Sep. 16—A Loyalhanna man was ordered to serve up to 23 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to two drug charges.
Brian Miller, 52, was arrested in April after the state police raided his home and found chemicals and equipment that investigators said were precursors to manufacture methamphetamine.
As part of a negotiated plea bargain finalized Tuesday, prosecutors dismissed the remaining four charges, including the most serious offense of operating a methamphetamine lab. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears sentenced Miller to serve seven to 23 months in jail and an additional two years on probation.
Pennsylvania Trooper Joseph Lauricia in court documents detailing the arrest wrote that he received information from an informant that Miller and the home's other occupant operated a methamphetamine laboratory out of their residence on the 600 block of Loyalhanna Dam Road, less than 2 miles south of Saltsburg in Indiana County.
Lauricia obtained a search warrant and summoned the specially equipped state police Clandestine Laboratory Response Team to assist in the search.
"The items collected were consistent with items used for manufacturing methamphetamine via the red phosphorus method," Lauricia wrote in court documents.
In addition to the jail sentence, Miller was ordered to pay $6,940 in restitution to the state police.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
