DARLINGTON — A 32-year-old Belmont man pleaded guilty to two of three felony drug charges he faced in Lafayette County Circuit Court Friday morning.
Mitchell R. Engebretson pleaded guilty to charges of intentional disposal of methamphetamine manufacturing waste, and manufacture or delivery of up to 3 grams of methamphetamine. A charge of possession of methamphetamine was dismissed.
Engebretson will be sentenced on the charges Aug. 31. Lafayette County District Attorney Kate Findley is recommending three years probation on the meth waste charges and 7½ years probation on the meth manufacturing charge in lieu of three years prison and six years extended supervision on the two charges. The maximum sentence on the two charges is 18½ years in prison and $35,000 in fines.
Engebretson had pleaded not guilty to the three charges Oct. 8. Friday’s hearing was the second scheduled; the first, for March 29, was rescheduled because, according to court records, Engebretson’s attorney, David Franker, said he had not been able to talk to Engebretson after Engebretson was moved to Stanley Correctional Institution.
Engebretson was arrested in Platteville after a meth lab was discovered during a search in the Dawn Vista Terrace trailer park Sept. 17. Belmont police and Lafayette County detectives were investigating two burglaries when the meth lab was discovered during a consent search.
Engebretson was sentenced in Grant County to 3½ years in prison and two years extended supervision in February 2012 on 17 counts of misappropriating an ID to obtain money in three separate cases. He also has previous convictions for criminal trespass and misdemeanor theft in Iowa County in 2012, burglary in Grant County in 2011, credit fraud in Grant County in 2009, and unlawful phone use threatening harm in Lafayette County in 2009.
Engebretson was arrested for possession of narcotic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia in Grant County in 2014, but those charges were dismissed before he made his first court appearance, according to court records.
According to court records, Engebretson has also gone by the names of Richard Dooley and Mitchell Waymen.
