23-Year-Old Sentenced in Elkridge Meth Lab Bust

A former Michigan resident received a nine-month jail sentence for his role in an Elkridge hotel room’s methamphetamine lab operation stemming from last June.

This past December, Josiah David Martin, 23, originally from Mesick, Mich., pleaded guilty to manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance and to reckless endangerment after Howard County police discovered a meth lab at a Holiday Inn Express in Elkridge.

At a hearing this past Friday, Martin apologized for his role, stating, “I know what I did was wrong," according to T. Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for the Howard County State's Attorney's Office.

Howard County Circuit Court Judge Richard S. Bernhardt handed Martin an eight-year sentence but suspended all but nine months on the manufacturing charge. Bernardt also gave Martin a nine-months sentence on the reckless endangerment charge, though this sentence will be served concurrently with the manufacturing sentence. Martin also received three years of supervised probation upon his release, according to Kirwan.

In addition to Martin, Joshua Wade Matthews, 34, and Forrest Derrick Rhoades, 35, both from Sallisaw, Okla., pleaded guilty to manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance and to reckless endangerment. Rhoades received a nine-month sentence and Matthews will receive his sentence on March 27.

Martin’s brother, Amos Joel Martin, 21, pleaded guilty for his role last October and was sentenced to six months in jail.

On June 5, 2012, Howard County Police said they received an anonymous phone call at 10:40 p.m. that described a strange smell at the Elkridge Holiday Inn Express in the 6000 block of Marshalee Dr. The hotel was then evacuated for safety concerns before police said they found less than 90 grams of meth in the room. Charges were later dropped against a fifth suspect, Spencer Allen Smith, 22, of Lock Haven, Pa.

In addition to the meth, police said they found heroin and a handgun in the hotel room.

Related articles

• Oklahoma Men Plead Guilty to Holiday Inn Meth Lab Charges

• Four Indicted from Meth Lab Bust

• Five Charged After Meth Lab Discovered at Elkridge Hotel

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