Former Officer Sentenced In Federal Science Lab Blast
GREENBELT, Md. (AP/WJZ) -- A former federal police officer has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to manufacture methamphetamine at a federal science lab in the Washington suburbs.
U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte marveled at the facts in the case Thursday, telling 41-year-old former officer Christopher Bartley during the sentencing hearing in Greenbelt that there was a "certain craziness" to the matter.
Messitte compared Bartley to Walter White, a fictional chemistry teacher on the television show "Breaking Bad" who decided to start making methamphetamine.
Methamphetamine is unsafe to produce and unsafe to use," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "Mr. Bartley damaged government property and jeopardized the health and safety of NIST employees by mixing dangerous chemicals."
The explosion occurred July 18 on the campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg. It caused the temperature in the room to rised to 180 degrees, activating a silent heat alarm. When firefighters arrived they found Bartley with singed hair and ears and a burn on his arm.
Defense attorney Steven VanGrack says Bartley wasn't trying to make methamphetamine for his personal use but was performing an unauthorized experiment.
But court records showed on July 19 at 1:27 a.m., Bartley sent an email to his supervisor where he admitted he tried to make methamphetamine.
He later admitted the same thing to a law enforcement agent.
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