FARMINGTON — A Kingfield man was sentenced Thursday to serve five years of a 14-year sentence for manufacturing methamphetamine in a mobile home on Feb. 8, 2012, in Kingfield.

David L. Coffren, 29, pleaded guilty in June to aggravated trafficking, aggravated criminal mischief and a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Coffren’s sentencing was postponed until he successfully completed a substance abuse counseling program.

He was one of three men indicted in the meth lab explosion and fire. Coffren’s young child was in the mobile home at the time, drug agents previously said.

State fire investigators had believed from the start that the fire was arson, according to a court affidavit. Representatives of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Office of the Maine Fire Marshal investigated.

A demolition crew hired to clean up the gutted mobile home and remove it reported that they believed they had found the remnants of a methamphetamine lab, an affidavit stated. There were remnants of white granular and crystalline substance coating on the inside of a bowl and tubing, which are consistent with a methamphetamine-cooking operation, the affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, Coffren told investigators he and two others were at his trailer, and they planned to make methamphetamine and use it. They were “strung out” from making and using methamphetamine the night before, agent Brian Ross wrote in the affidavit.

Coffren was in the living room with his girlfriend, who was not arrested in the case, and heard “Fire, fire” coming from his bathroom/bedroom. He saw a small fire in that area, grabbed some baking soda and poured it on it, Ross wrote.

Meanwhile, Seth Hinkley, 26, of Strong and Joshua Bartlett, 25, of North New Portland went to the kitchen and began making a second “one-pot batch,” Ross wrote. Coffren heard a loud explosion from the kitchen and saw it was on fire. He tried putting it out, but then grabbed his sleeping child in the next room and ran outside to a car and left, the affidavit states.

Justice Michaela Murphy also ordered Coffren to serve four years of probation when he is released from prison.

She also sentenced Coffren to serve three years on the criminal mischief charge and six months on the child-endangering charge. Both will run concurrent to the drug sentence.

NOTE: This story has been modified since it was published to reflect that Coffren was ordered serve five of the 14 years in prison. It was a reporting error.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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