By By NORMA LERNER / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - A Paw Paw man and a Marcellus man went to prison Friday morning in Cass County Circuit Court for two separate convictions of maintaining methamphetamine labs at county locations.
Anthony Hinton, 27, of 51st Avenue, Paw Paw, was found screaming on the ground with burns to his hands, face and legs when police and fire vehicles arrived on April 28, 2004, to a home he was renting at 17877 Camplite St. in Vandalia.
The two-story home was on fire.
Hinton was airlifted to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo for burn treatment.
Judge Michael Dodge, who imposed a three- to 20-year prison term for manufacturing methamphetamine and a concurrent three to 20 years for operating and maintaining a methamphetamine lab, recounted that police discovered in the burned rubble remnants of a methamphetamine lab and all the components for manufacturing the substance.
Dodge said Hinton denied it was an active methamphetamine lab and that he never cooked it, but the jury didn't believe that and found him guilty on Nov. 30.
Dodge said he was pointing out the danger of methamphetamine not only to Hinton, but to the community at large.
Defense attorney James Miller asked for the low end of Hinton's guideline range of 24 to 40 months, but Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jason Ronning said even though the cause of the fire was not determined, there were ingredients to start a lab fire.
There was the intent to deliver a large quantity of methamphetamine to the public. It was fortunate to have stopped it. Hinton was ordered to pay $980 in costs.
Also going behind bars for operating and maintaining a meth lab is Walter Bonarski Jr., 25, of 10030 Dutch Settlement St., Marcellus.
Ronning said Bonarski delivered methamphetamine from his mobile lab in his automobile and was caught for speeding. "We take meth charges seriously," he said in asking for Bonarski to be sentenced accordingly.
Dodge recalled it was July 9, 2004, when Bonarski was stopped for speeding on M-40 in Marcellus. He was also driving on a suspended license and was arrested. Police found components of a methamphetamine mobile lab. The offense was also committed while Bonarski was on probation for two felonies in Indiana, Dodge said.
Miller said Bonarski has a long way to go before he can solve all of his issues in asking for the low end of his 51- to 127-month guideline range.
He received five to 40 years for operating/maintaining a methamphetamine lab.