Politics & Government
Wanted Meth Traffickers Caught, Sentenced to Prison
The two North Olmsted residents arrested by Lakewood Police for dealing methamphetamines, who skipped their sentencing hearings last month, were each sentenced.
After they were on the lam for about a week after they skipped sentencing hearings, two convicted meth dealers were arrested and brought back to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Lisa Gottshalt, 42, and Karl Dlugos, 39, who each pleaded guilty to possession of chemicals used to manufacture controlled substances and drug trafficking last year, have been sentenced to prison.
Gottshalt, who also pleaded guilty to charges of attempted illegal manufacture of drugs and child endangering, was sentenced to one year in prison. Children were present when Lakewood police searched their North Olmsted home in March.
Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Dlugos was sentenced to nine months.
With multiple charges, they were both facing lengthy prison sentences, but Judge Brendan Sheehan ordered that their respective sentences run concurrently.
Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Before the trials for two suspected meth dealers could begin in December, both of them pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
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.
A third man, Robert Goines, 38, pleaded guilty in September to manufacturing and cultivating marijuana, and two counts of drug trafficking.
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.
The drug-trafficking investigation began in February 2012.
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.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
