(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man who was charged with an ex-convict and two women with manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing the drug in the 700 block of E. Main Street in Cushing pleaded guilty to both counts Friday.
As part of a plea bargain, Richard Ryan Gualco, 32, was placed on 10 years’ probation with extensive conditions — including enrolling in and successfully completing the Payne County Drug Court program.
If summoned to testify against his co-defendants, Richard Gualco must do so truthfully, Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler ordered. He must also comply with the methamphetamine registry and pay a $1,000 fine, as well as $100 to the District Attorney’s Drug Fund, $150 for a state crime bureau laboratory test and $150 for a DNA test.
Richard Gualco, who had been jailed on $100,000 bail for the past three months, was released Friday by the judge, who wished him well and told him that the Drug Court program was intensive, but meant to help people not punish them.
He was arrested with his co-defendants, Tammie Lynn Gualco, 32, of Cushing; her boyfriend, Robert Lee Neely, 29, of Cushing, who had been released from prison two months earlier; and Cady Dawn Jafek, 20, of Stillwater.
All four were taken into custody on Nov. 21, 2010, after Cushing Police Officer Randy Evans received information that an active meth lab was located at a rent house in the 700 block of E. Main Street in Cushing, court records allege.
“Officer Rachel Hentges and Officer Dakota Simpson watched the rear of the residence from the alley and Officer Bradley Staggs watched the east side of the residence from a neighboring yard as Office Matthew Piatt and I made our way to the front of the residence,” Evans wrote in an affidavit.
“As Tammie (Gualco) exited the residence, I observed a thick haze of smoke inside the residence. Tammie pulled the door shut behind her,” and told the officer she was the renter of the house, Evans alleged in his affidavit.
When he asked if he could search for illegal narcotics, “Tammie said she needed to speak with her boyfriend, Robert Neely,” the affidavit alleged.
“Tammie slightly opened the door and yelled, ‘Robert, the police are here and they want to talk with you.’ Tammie then quickly shut the door,” the affidavit alleged.
The Cushing officer recognized Neely from a contact earlier in the week, when Neely told him he had recently gotten out of prison and was on probation, according to Evans’ affidavit.
“I asked Robert what was going on inside the residence and he said nothing was going on. I asked Robert who else was inside the residence, and he stated that there were three children and two other adults inside the residence,” Evans wrote in his affidavit.
After Tammie Gualco gave the officer consent to search the residence, Evans entered, immediately observed a thick smoky haze inside and smelled a strong odor of chemicals, the affidavit alleged.
Richard Gualco came from a bedroom where it appeared the smoky haze was coming from, the affidavit said.
“Richard was twitching severely and acting odd. I asked both Tammie and Richard what the smoke was from and they both stated they did not know,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“Officer Piatt and I looked inside the room observing what we believed to be an active methamphetamine lab.
“Officer Piatt and I then evacuated the residence — removing three children and four dogs from the residence,” Evans wrote in his affidavit.
When Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Fox arrived at the house, he “aerated the residence and entered the room where the methamphetamine lab was located,” the affidavit alleged.
“Deputy Fox removed the active labs from the residence.
“Deputy Fox advised me that there were two ‘shake and bake’ labs in the bedroom.
“Deputy Fox stated that the explosive power of the labs were equivalent to about five sticks of dynamite,” the affidavit alleged.
“The bedroom where the labs were found was connected to the children’s bedroom via a shared bathroom,” the affidavit alleged.
A plate lying on a bed had a knife and a white powdery substance that field-tested as methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged. A crown royal cloth bag found on the bed contained a smaller plastic baggy containing a substance that tested as methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged.
Neely, who listed his address as in the 1400 block of E. Cherry Street in Cushing, remains jailed on $75,000 bond, which was reduced in December from $250,000 bond, court records show.
Neely was convicted of kidnapping, car theft, first-degree burglary, running a road block and escape from a penal institution, all in 2002 in Woodward County, state Department of Corrections records show. He was in prison for eight years until his release in September, DOC records show.
Neely is currently serving 20 years of probation on his car theft and burglary convictions, DOC records show. He also has a 2002 conviction for shoplifting in Payne County in 2000, DOC records show.
Tammie Gualco remains in the Payne County Jail pending a preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for this week, but may be postponed since Neely’s preliminary hearing is set for March 10.
She was convicted in 2005 of possessing stolen property, a controlled drug and drug paraphernalia, all in Payne County in 2003, for which she received five years of probation, DOC records show.
Jafek was jailed until Feb. 3, when the state dismissed her case, which was refiled on Feb. 17. She remains free pending an initial appearance in court Tuesday.
Manufacturing or attempting to manufacture methamphetamine carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to court records.
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