BATH, Maine — A man and woman charged in October with operating a “one-pot” methamphetamine lab out of a foreclosed, multi-unit apartment building near the police station in downtown Bath will serve 18 months and nine months in jail, respectively, after pleading guilty in Sagadahoc County Superior Court.
James Scheider, 38, and Stacey Dykes, 36, told police they were “squatting” in the apartment and acknowledged “cooking” methamphetamine following their Oct. 31 arrest, according to court documents.
Dykes is originally from Bath, Bath police Lt. Robert Savary said in October. Scheider told police he had come to Maine from Florida just days before the arrest.
Bath police Detective Andrew Booth wrote in an affidavit that he received information on Oct. 30 that people who moved into an apartment at 50 Elm St. recently purchased items later determined to be used to cook methamphetamine. Booth confirmed the items had been purchased at local stores.
Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigators executed a search warrant Oct. 31 and found an air mattress and small television in the apartment, along with empty soda bottles and other items used to manufacture the drug.
The apartment was evacuated with the assistance of the Bath Fire Department, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and MDEA’s Clandestine Drug Laboratory Enforcement Team.
Scheider and Dykes were indicted in November for aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs. The charge was elevated because the apartment is within 1,000 feet of Morse High School.
On Jan. 7, each pleaded guilty before Justice Susan Spirocco to the lesser Class B felony. Dykes was sentenced to three years in jail with all but nine months suspended and three years probation, according to court documents. Scheider was sentenced to five years in jail with all but 18 months suspended and three years probation.
Savary said in October this was the third alleged methamphetamine lab in Bath, following similar illicit operations discovered in 2008 and 2013.