LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two local men arrested earlier this month for a cannabis oil lab that led to an apartment fire entered guilty pleas in the case on Monday.

Matthew Richard Carr, 24, of Lakeport and Dylan Alex Nevarez, 22, of Clearlake pleaded guilty to Health and Safety Code violations including storage, handling or disposing of hazardous waste causing unreasonable risk of fire or explosion, and unlawful disposal of hazardous waste, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.

Carr and Nevarez were arrested on April 7 following an apartment fire at Adagio Apartments in Clearlake, as Lake County News has reported. Nevarez was slightly burned in the fire.

After Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters extinguished the fire, they found what they considered to be suspicious items and notified the Clearlake Police Department, according to the original police report.

In the apartment, a detective found butane bottles and other apparatus used in the manufacture of cannabis oil, or honey oil, police reported.

Carr and Nevarez also had been in the apartment with four children, ranging in age from 1 month to 2 years, police said.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 16. Anderson said the maximum sentencing for these crimes is three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Anderson said the District Attorney’s Office is making every effort to prosecute environmental crimes, especially related to marijuana grows and illegal drug manufacturing, with the resources they have available.  

He said the case involving Carr and Nevarez is the kind of environmental crime that his office will actively seek out and prosecute.