Man Accused Of Attempt To Run Drug Lab (Connecticut)

By GARY LIBOW,
Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- Officer William Mudano went to the Wesley Inn and Suites to investigate a reported larceny, but ended up making the first crystal meth lab bust this year in Connecticut - and what city police believe to be the first-ever in Middletown.

The occupant of Room 212 reported money missing. The investigation Friday led Mudano to Room 216 where he spotted a duffel bag. Mudano inquired about the contents of the bag, and the makings of a meth lab were spilled out - a Coleman butane cylinder, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, a beaker with residue, coffee filters and plastic containers capable of holding fluids.

As a result, Middlefield resident Timothy Gionfriddo, 21, was charged with criminal attempt to operate a drug factory, criminal attempt to possess methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held with bail set at $25,000 and was scheduled for court on April 7.

"In Connecticut, this is the first one [bust] we have responded to this year," Special Agent Tony Pettigrew of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said Monday.

Gionfriddo was in possession of the equipment and ingredients for a "box lab," but was not manufacturing the drug at the time of his arrest, Pettigrew said.

Box labs are transportable and usually produce anywhere from a half-gram to a gram of methamphetamine, Pettigrew said.

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