Crime & Safety

Trial for Accused Meth Traffickers Set to Begin

Three charged for drug trafficking; one man pleads guilty, sentenced to four years.

A Lakewood Police Department investigation into a drug trafficking ring ended in March with the arrest of three North Olmsted residents, accused of selling methamphetamine and other drugs from their home.

The trial for two of them — Karl Dlugos, 39, and Lisa Gottshalt, 41 — is expected to begin this month. They both pleaded not guilty.

A third man, Robert Goines, 38, pleaded guilty last month to manufacturing and cultivating marijuana, and two counts of drug trafficking.

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He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Lakewood police carried out the investigation, because “the case originated here,” said Det. Amelio Leanza, declining to comment further. 

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“I can’t give any details on the nature of the case, because they are still tied together,” he said, citing the pending trials.

Leanza did say that the drug-trafficking investigation began in February.

According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, the March 28 search warrant yielded the seizure of “numerous drugs” including methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, heroin and Adderall.

Police also found what appears to be a meth lab.

Ingredients and materials used in the production of and sale of methamphetamine — including Sudafed, Draino, acetone, lithium and sodium hydroxide — were also found in the Mastick Road home, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Gottshalt and Dlugos each face a host of charges, including manufacturing and cultivating marijuana; assembly of chemical drugs with intent to manufacture; drug trafficking; drug possession; and possession of criminal tools.

Gottshalt also faces a charge of endangering children.


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