A Lansford man who last month attended his sentencing proceedings in Carbon County Court while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, said on Wednesday he will plead guilty to operating a methamphetamine lab in the borough.

The meth lab charge is unrelated to the previous court charges for William David Barnes of 237 W. Patterson St.Barnes was scheduled for the preliminary hearing Wednesday on the meth lab charges before District Judge Casimir T. Kosciolek of Lansford.Instead, he opted to waive the hearing on a stipulation that he will plead guilty to operating a meth lab, but have two related charges dropped. A guilty plea means there will be no trial on the case.If the county court judge agrees to the agreement, the charges of illegal dumping of methamphetamine waste and possession of materials used in the manufacturing of meth, both felony counts, will be dropped.The plea agreement will mean a potentially shorter prison sentence for Barnes.Barnes' initial court appearance last month was for an incident at Marco's Pizza Shop in Lansford.He had been charged with disorderly conduct and was placed on probation for six months, and had imposed fines of $50 each on two related counts.On June 30, he was arrested by Lansford Police and Agent Charles Horvath of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office Bureau of Narcotics in a raid on a meth lab at his West Patterson Street address.He was lodged in the Carbon County Correctional Facility as a result of the new charges.He was brought to Kosciolek's office wearing blue prison attire.At the June 30 raid, police confiscated a plastic bottle containing meth residue, two plastic bottles suspected to be acid gas generators, and other items common to meth labs.Meth labs are considered very toxic and have the potential for causing fires and explosions.The Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Response Team processed and cleaned up the scene after the raid at the Lansford home.