Blissfield man imprisoned on meth charges

COSHOCTON - A Blissfield man has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison on felony drug charges involving methamphetamine.

David James McFadden, 33, on Monday pleaded guilty in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court to the illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs as well as trafficking in drugs, methamphetamine.

In exchange for those pleas, Judge Robert Batchelor agreed to drop charges of illegally manufacturing drugs, aggravated possession of a controlled substance and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.

Batchelor sentenced McFadden to serve three years on the illegal assembly charge, a third-degree felony, and 18 months on trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony. The terms must be served consecutively, according to Bailiff Jon Mosier.

All charges stem from a May 31 raid on a vacant house and two campers at 41951 County Road 318. McFadden lived in one camper, deputies said, while his father, David S. McFadden, 60, lived in the other.

David S. McFadden is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 20 on charges of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs. He is out on $10,000 bond while awaiting trial.

Detectives arrested the elder McFadden on May 31 at his home after a joint investigation by the Holmes and Coshocton County sheriff's offices. They arrested the younger McFadden two days later.

Detective Sgt. Timothy Stryker, of the Holmes County Sheriff's Office, testified during a preliminary hearing in June that investigators found camp stove fuel, lithium batteries that had been cut open, and blister packs thought to have previously contained pseudoephedrine when they searched the properties May 31.

Those elements can be used to make meth. Pseudoephedrine is commonly used as a nasal and sinus decongestant.

The younger McFadden had been scheduled to stand trial Tuesday on two of the counts, but agreed to the plea agreement after officials served him with three related charges handed down last week by a grand jury, Mosier said.

He had previously been convicted of illegally manufacturing meth and had served four years in prison on that conviction.

jwilliams6@gannett.com

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