Former officer sentenced in federal science lab blast


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GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A former federal police officer has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to manufacture methamphetamine at a federal science lab in the Washington suburbs.

U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte marveled at the facts in the case Thursday, telling 41-year-old former officer Christopher Bartley during the sentencing hearing in Greenbelt that there was a "certain craziness" to the matter.

Messitte compared Bartley to Walter White, a fictional chemistry teacher on the television show "Breaking Bad" who decided to start making methamphetamine.

The explosion occurred July 18 on the campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg.

Defense attorney Steven VanGrack says Bartley wasn't trying to make methamphetamine for his personal use but was performing an unauthorized experiment.

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