Staff Writer

Three men are facing federal drug charges in connection with their production of methamphetamine in a homemade lab, Otsego County deputies said Friday.

James M. Lord, 35, of Charlotteville, Tracy A. Lord, 30, of Richmondville, and Shawn M. Briggs, 35, of Decatur were arrested Thursday and charged with felony conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Deputies said the charges stem from a seven-month investigation, in which the men were caught cooking up methamphetamine in a home lab in the town of Decatur. They were also arrested in June for selling the drug to undercover officers.

Thursday's arrests were made by deputies, members of the Capital District Drug Enforcement Task Force and FBI agents out of Utica, said deputies.

Jim Lord was arrested in the town of Oneonta and Briggs was arrested in Montgomery County. Tracy Lord, Jim's brother, was arrested at the Otsego County jail, where he is being held on an unrelated charge.

The men were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Gary L. Shear in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York in Binghamton.

They are being held without bail in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and are to appear back in court on Monday for a detention hearing.

The charges, deputies said, are based on the discovery in August and September of two methamphetamine production labs that were run out of Briggs' home at 210 Skinner Hill Road.

On Aug. 8, investigators found all three men in the process of cooking up the drug. The men were charged at that time with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Deputies said they confiscated about 7 pounds of methamphetamine oil, from which the finished product is made.

Michael F. Ten Eyck, an investigator with the Otsego County Sheriff's Department, said the methamphetamine is sold on the street for about $100 a gram.

He said it will take further lab analysis to determine how much of the drug could have been extracted from the methamphetamine oil.

Investigators went back to the house in September and discovered Tracy Lord again trying to produce the drug. He was charged with criminally possessing a hypodermic instrument and pleaded guilty to seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

He served 30 days in the Otsego County Jail on that charge, deputies said.

All three men were also charged in June with selling methamphetamine to an undercover officer.

Ten Eyck said the pending state charges against the men were tossed in favor of the federal charges.