Man pleads guilty in cannabis lab blast

A Cottage Grove man who previously served prison time for using a Eugene coffee kiosk as a business front for a marijuana operation now faces another stint behind bars for causing a cannabis lab explosion one year ago.

Eric Leighton Scully, 35, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Eugene to charges of endangering human life and illegally possessing and manufacturing marijuana. The charges stem from a Nov. 16, 2017, explosion in Cottage Grove that put Scully in a hospital with burns. He was arrested after being discharged.

A joint sentencing recommendation calls for Scully to be sentenced to seven years, three months in prison when he returns to court on Feb. 16. Judge Michael McShane, however, could impose a longer or shorter sentence in the case.

At the time of the cannabis oil blast, Scully was on federal supervised release in connection with a money laundering conviction in 2016. He served a 90-day prison sentence in that case, which related to his use of a coffee kiosk in downtown Eugene as a business front to ship marijuana to other states.

In court Thursday, Scully admitted violating his supervised release agreement via his involvement in the cannabis lab operation. He also agreed to forfeit nearly $26,000 in illicit proceeds as well as a pickup truck and a trailer used in the crimes, federal officials said.

"Manufacturing hash oil is extremely dangerous and poses a grave risk of injury or death to producers and unknowing, innocent victims," U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams said Thursday in a statement released by his office.

According to court records, a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation began one day after the lab explosion on property owned by Scully. During a search of the property, agents found more than 1,900 pounds of usable marijuana, 728 pot plants and more than 80 pounds of cannabis oil.

Investigators concluded that a machine in the lab containing combustible material had caught fire while Scully was manufacturing the oil through a process that involves the use of butane gas. The machine then exploded, injuring Scully and placing an unspecified number of other people in danger, federal officials said.