Crime & Safety

Peabody Man Pleads Guilty to Making Meth

Joseph E. Penachio was charged in a 2012 incident in which a meth making operation exploded in a first-floor room at the Holiday Inn on Route 1.

A Peabody man whose meth lab exploded in a Holiday Inn room in 2012 pleaded guilty to attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, reported the Salem News.

Joseph E. Penachio, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to the one count of attempting to manufacture meth as part of a plea agreement that also dropped two other charges. Penachio is free on bond and will be sentenced on May 30, reported the Salem News.

In July 2012, a meth lab exploded in a first-floor room at the Holiday Inn on Route 1. The hotel was evacuated and police found the meth lab inside the room.

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Seventeen rooms were sealed off and refurnished because of chemical vapors from the explosion.

Penachio was arrested a full year later when SWAT teams, federal agents and Peabody Police descended upon his home at 251 Lynn St.

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