Man pleads guilty in meth manufacturing case
A Butler man, accused of manufacturing methamphetamine in a Butler apartment, pleaded guilty to the crime in Butler County Court on Tuesday.
Thomas Lee Odom, 32, entered a guilty plea to felony conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance before county Judge Timothy McCune.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 21 to 60 months in state prison, and he is scheduled for sentencing on Thursday.
Odom was initially charged with two felony counts each of operating a methamphetamine lab, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine precursors, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, and one count each of felony risking a catastrophe and conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance.
He was charged alongside Brian Payment Jr., 28, of Butler by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office following an investigation into the manufacture of methamphetamine at a Standard Avenue apartment, between Sept. 30 and Oct. 25.
According to the criminal complaint, multiple sources identified Odom as one of the cooks and the person who accompanied them to retail outlets to buy products containing pseudoephedrine, sulfuric acid, lithium batteries and drain cleaner containing sodium hydroxide.
When he was arrested on Oct. 25, he was found in possession of a backpack containing products used to manufacture the drug, police said.
Processed as evidence were ammonium nitrate, sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride, sulfuric acid, petroleum distillates, lithium, one-pot cooking vessel with sludge, a gas generator, pliers, pipe cutters, tubing, and modified caps with tubing, among other items.
Tuesday's proceedings also included three probation revocation cases, two of which had already reached their maximum dates while Odom has been incarcerated, and the third was resolved with the plea, to serve the balance of the case, nine months, in prison, with all time served credit he has received until July going toward that case.
He continues to be held on $100 bail, as well as the probation detainers.
