A 34-year-old Salem man has received the maximum sentence possible from charges stemming from an arson fire at an illegal meth lab at 6614 Glenwood Ave. on Mar. 1, 2014.
      Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Christian sent 34-year-old Michael Goughenour, of 13116 West Pine Lake Rd., Salem, Oh., to prison for seven years, indicating the man’s criminal history commanded the sentence.
      “The court finds that [Mr. Goughenour] is not amenable to a community control sanction, and prison is the only sanction...The maximum sentence is necessary due to [Mr. Goughenour’s] previous history of offenses,” the judge ruled.
      In addition, Goughenour was ordered “not to ingest or be injected with a drug of abuse” and if that condition was violated, Goughenour could receive another three and a half years in jail.
      Judge Christian also ordered Goughenour to make restitution of $5500 to the Boardman Fire Department, but suspended that ruling “due to Goughenour’s indigency.”
      On Sat., Mar. 1, 2014 when firemen answered a fire call at the Glenwood Ave. home, they discovered a possible meth lab in the basement.
      Authorities learned that Goughenour had recently moved into the home, and also learned from the Salem Police Department that Goughenour was “known to be involved in methamphetamine use.”
      On Mar. 4, members of the Boardman Police Department’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit (NEU), acting on a warrant signed by Boardman Court Judge Joseph Houser, searched the basement of the Glenwood Ave. home where they found a bottle of Heet, a can of Drain Out, a bottle of muriatic acid, a hot plate, an exhaust fan and venting tubing; coffee filters and two mason jars containing a clear liquid that was believed to be flammable; all items known to be used in the manufacture of meth.
      Det. Michael Dado said “the fire...was the result of a possible meth lab. In the area where the fire started was a plastic jug with a split down its side. Also near the jug was a bottle containing a commercial chemical thought to be used to manufacture methamphetamine...If the jug was not vented properly while manufacturing [the drug], the jug would explode and split down the side.”
      Dado described this type of meth manufacturing as ‘the one pot method.’
      According to Boardman Fire Department reports, on the day of the fire a man identified as Goughenour, and a woman identified as his girlfriend, Bethany Hoover, began moving into the home at 4:00 a.m.
      A neighbor told a Boardman Fire department arson investigator that “once the fire started, Goughenour came out of the house with a lot of soot on his face, stating he fell asleep with a cigarette.” The neighbor told the investigator that Goughenour then went back into the house, “then came out with a female and a dog.”
      The neighbor told the investigator that Goughenour stated “he was going to move the car to another driveway to get out of the fire department’s way, but instead left the scene.”
      According to an arson report, “Later in the day, Goughenour’s mother filed a missing persons report.”
      Almost two weeks after the fire, according to Boardman Fire Department records, Goughenour’s mother, Teresa Dutcher, of Salem, (owner of the home at 6614 Glenwood Ave.) informed Lt. James McCreary of the Boardman Fire Department “she found out that Goughenour was staying at her home with various female friends” and the pair had an argument and Goughenour left her home.
      “She wishes to have [her son] arrested,” McCreary said.
      According to Det. Mike Hughes, commander of the NEU, Goughenour was arrested last year in Seattle, Wash. and returned to Mahoning County after he was indicted by a grand jury for manufacturing drugs, possession of chemicals used to manufacture drugs, possession of drugs and two counts of aggravated arson.
      Columbiana County court records show that Goughenour was secretly indicted in 2015 on a charge of cultivating marihuana and was held there on a $150,000 bond.