Real-life Breaking Bad case results in lengthy jail term

A Niagara man who ran a sophisticated Breaking Bad-style methamphetamine lab from a barn in a rural area of Wainfleet will spend the next five years behind bars.

James DiBenedetto, 60, of Fonthill, was convicted following a trial earlier this year on three charges including production for the purpose of trafficking.

He was sentenced Thursday in Superior Court of Justice in Welland.

Defence lawyer Steven Fishbayn had told Judge Theresa Maddalena a sentence of two years of house arrest would be an appropriate disposition for his client, a first-time offender.

Federal prosecutor Peter Wenglowski had argued the crimes warranted a jail term of six to eight years.

Wenglowski said crystal methamphetamine causes enormous “grief and misery” for addicts and does “significant harm” to the health and safety of the community.

The judge agreed.

“It is trite to say that crystal meth is a hard, dangerous drug,” Maddalena said. “It inflicts a great deal of harm and, quite frankly, is a plague on our society.”

The judge said the sentence should be proportionate to the gravity of the offences.

Maddalena described DiBenedetto’s criminal enterprise as “a very large, sophisticated and dangerous operation.”

When Niagara Regional Police raided the rural Creek Road property in January 2011, they discovered an industrial-sized laboratory in a barn and seized 2.1 kilograms of “finished” methamphetamine and a large quantity of the drug in various stages of production.

The meth was tested by Health Canada and determined to be 86 to 98 per cent pure.

It took Niagara police — working alongside Ontario Provincial Police, Health Canada and hazardous waste specialists — five days to dismantle the lab.

They had to wear hazmat suits and respirators. Many of the chemicals used to make meth are toxic and flammable. The labs are prone to fires and explosions that put the community at risk.

“There was a significant degree of danger of chemical contamination,” the judge said.

Police raided the property at the same time a search warrant was executed at DiBenedetto’s Foresthill Crescent home.

Inside the home, police found $50,000 in cash as well as various text books and manuals on how to cook meth.

An article from a Toronto newspaper titled “Rural Ontario’s Mr. Meth” was also found.