WARREN - An Andover man will serve two years behind bars after pleading guilty to a third-degree felony charge after Warren police found him sitting on a highly volatile mini meth lab under his car seat.
Gerald Guysinger, 25, was found guilty on the charge of attempted illegal manufacturing of drugs by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan. He was sentenced Tuesday.
He had been held in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bond since his arrest April 18.
Assistant county prosecutor Charles Morrow said Guysinger was the subject of a traffic stop in Warren and was found by Patrolman Dave Webber with what narcotics officers call a ''mobile shake and bake.''
Morrow said a mixture of chemicals used to make methamphetamine were found in two plastic bottles under the passenger-side seat where Guysinger was sitting. The officer was given a consent to search the vehicle, and after finding the bottles of potentially explosive chemicals, called in Trumbull County HAZMAT and agents from Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force, who put on protective suits to remove the chemicals.
Police spotted the car that was driven by Guysinger's girlfriend on South Street S.E. near the McDonald's Restaurant. The car was being driven at night with no headlights on and was finally pulled over in the parking lot of USA Gas Station 317 Pine Ave. S.W.
Police said they heard a sizzling sound coming from the bottles that had electrical tape around the top third of the bottles. Guysinger and his girlfriend were put through the decontamination process.
Morrow pointed out that residents should use caution if they are removing litter from the roadside and find two-liter bottles filled with an unknown milky substance.