By Dave O’Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
An Akron man whose illegal, mobile methamphetamine lab snarled Interstate 76 traffic in Brimfield on June 25 will spend the next 10 years in prison.
Keith S. Miller was sentenced recently to a full decade behind bars by Portage County Common Pleas Court Judge Laurie Pittman.
Miller, 34, pleaded guilty Sept. 17 to three charges, including illegal manufacture of drugs, a second-degree felony; assembly of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, a third-degree felony; and possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony.
Pittman gave Miller six years on the second-degree felony, three years on the third-degree felony and one year on the fifth-degree felony, with the sentences to run consecutively, according to Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci.
Miller also was fined $10,000 plus court costs, had his driver’s license suspended for five years and was ordered to forfeit his 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass.
The bust took place following a routine 4 a.m. traffic stop June 25 on I-76 near Tallmadge Road. Brimfield police Sgt. Matthew McCarthy and Officer Bill Atha observed jars of chemicals, finished methamphetamine, a scale, hazardous byproducts of methamphetamine manufacturing and other items, Brimfield Police Chief David Blough said at the time.
A Drug Enforcement Administration clandestine methamphetamine lab cleanup team wearing hazardous materials suits processed the car. Traffic on I-76 was diverted from one lane of the highway for five hours during the cleanup, and was backed up as much as two miles during that time.