By Robert Pozarycki
An Elmhurst man has been locked up in a federal jail for allegedly running a dangerous drug lab out of a Long Island home that produced vast quantities of ecstasy pills and marijuana.
According to published reports, 44-year-old Joseph Guida — who works as an electrician with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) — was arrested Dec. 13 shortly after federal agents raided the Mastic, Long Island, home where the drug lab was located.
Prosecutors said that federal agents were tipped off to the drug operation on Dec. 5, when Customs and Border Protection intercepted a package from China that was being shipped to Guida’s Elmhurst home. The package was found to contain a white powdery substance that chemical tests revealed to be methyl-glycidate, a known ingredient in the creation of MDMA or ecstasy, according to prosecutors.
Law enforcement agents went to Guida’s residence Dec. 13 to question him. Soon after the agents departed, Guida allegedly called them back and spilled the beans about the Mastic “cook lab” where ecstasy was being produced. WABC-TV reported that the home is believed to belong to Guida’s girlfriend.
The Suffolk County Police Department then executed a search warrant of the Mastic home later that day. Donning haz-mat suits, police officers entered the home and found barrels of chemicals as well as test tubes, beakers and other devices used to produce ecstasy pills. There was also a “sharp chemical odor” in the air, the criminal complaint noted.
Law enforcement agents also found a number of marijuana plants growing inside the home.
Guida was taken into custody and was scheduled to appear in federal court Monday, Dec. 17, for a bail hearing, according to Newsday.
