By SEAN JANSSEN

The Union Democrat

A man who owns property where in April police discovered remnants of a methamphetamine lab pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in the case Monday afternoon.

Enrique Perez Acevedo, 29, agreed to a deal in which he was convicted of misdemeanor disposal of chemical by-products from drug manufacture. In the agreement, charges of making a place available for use to manufacture drugs and cultivating marijuana were dropped.

Acevedo received a sentence of 171 days in jail, already served; one year of probation, including a waiver that allows law enforcement officers to search his residence, vehicle or any other property at any time without a warrant; and $235 in court-ordered fines. He remained in custody following his appearance in Calaveras County Superior Court because of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Acevedo's land was used to grow marijuana, and evidence was found of a sophisticated meth lab in an April 4 raid at the property on Doster Road in San Andreas.

Acevedo's attorney, T. Mark O'Toole, said his client did not want to risk prison time by going to trial. O'Toole said Acevedo had a clean record before this arrest, and his application for an immigration waiver is unlikely to be processed until after his probation is complete.

On Friday, two other men charged in the case went before a Calaveras Superior Court judge with offers of plea agreements. Juan Villanueva Godinez, 40, agreed to plead guilty as an accessory after the fact to felony methamphetamine manufacturing and, in return, had six other charges against him dropped. He also received a sentence of time served for the felony conviction, and also a 30-day probation. Honorio Garcia Castillo, 33, received a similar plea bargain offer but refused the deal and faces trial beginning Sept. 24.