Homeless couple suspected of making meth lab in Vandergrift house pleads guilty to lesser charges

A homeless couple pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges related to a meth lab police said they found at a Vandergrift house in October.

Tia Charmagne Klazon, 32, of Arnold, and Kiel Thomas Freeman, 32, of Vandergrift, were each sentenced to serve six to 23 months in jail and two years on probation after police discovered what appeared to be laboratory where methamphetamine was produced.

According to court records, the owner of the Franklin Avenue home who took in the couple two days earlier notified police about the pair’s suspicious behavior in the home.

Police said the homeowner saw Klazon and Freeman carrying numerous garbage bags into her attic, and later found ingredients and other items there that she believed were related to producing meth.

Klazon, according to police, was found with a notebook that contained a list of items used to manufacture methamphetamine.

A collection of items used to make the drugs and byproducts of the process were also discovered in the home’s attic, police said.

As part of the plea bargain deal approved Wednesday, prosecutors dismissed charges that Klazon and Freeman operated a meth lab. They pleaded guilty to lesser charges of illegal depositing of chemical waste and reckless endangerment.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said the couple will be given credit for time they served in jail since their arrest in October. They can be paroled early to an inpatient drug rehabilitation treatment program, the judge said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.