2.20.24 – NBC News
A New York man who ran a “Breaking Bad”-style drug lab inadvertently turned himself in when he called police to report a burglary, prosecutors said.
Matthew Leshinsky, 23, of Farmingville, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine and other charges for running an illicit drug lab in Long Island, according to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Leshinsky had called 911 to report a burglary at his purported business, Quantitative Laboratories LLC in Ronkonkoma, at 3:30 a.m. June 7.
When Suffolk County police arrived, they found broken glass at the entrance to the lab and later discovered what appeared to be “a clandestine laboratory” that made methamphetamine and dimethyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic substance, as well as other substances, prosecutors said in the release.
A search warrant led to the discovery of over 100 items of laboratory equipment, chemical reagents and solvents used to manufacture and produce meth, officials said.
Authorities also recovered $40,000 in cash, ecstasy, over three ounces of methamphetamine and more than 625,000 milligrams of pure ketamine. They also found over 20 plastic 55-gallon drums containing Gamma-butyrolactone, a chemical similar to Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, which is referred to as the “date rape drug,” prosecutors said.
Leshinsky pleaded guilty to a total of 13 charges Thursday and is due back in court on March 20.
His attorney was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
“This defendant was operating a ‘Breaking Bad‘-style drug lab and tried to conceal it under the guise of a legitimate business,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in the release.
“I want to thank the Suffolk County Police Department officers who keenly identified evidence of a clandestine drug lab during their initial response to the scene, as well as our prosecutors and other members of law enforcement for their collaborative efforts to further investigate this defendant and hold him accountable for the deadly drugs he put out onto the streets of Suffolk County,” he added.