Farmingville man pleads guilty to running ‘Breaking Bad’-style drug lab in Ronkonkoma

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A Farmingville man has pleaded guilty to charges surrounding the running of a “Breaking Bad”-style drug lab in Ronkonkoma, officials said Thursday. Police uncovered the lab when the man reported a burglary at his business, Quantitative Laboratories.

Matthew Leshinsky pleaded to third-degree unlawful manufacturing of methamphetamine and other related charges for manufacturing methamphetamine and additional illicit drugs at Quantitative Laboratories, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.

“This defendant was operating a Breaking Bad-style drug lab and tried to conceal it under the guise of a legitimate business. He then inadvertently turned himself in when he reported that a burglary occurred at that same business,” Tierney said in a written statement.

“I want to thank the Suffolk County Police Department officers who keenly identified evidence of a clandestine drug lab during their initial response to the scene, as well as our prosecutors and other members of law enforcement for their collaborative efforts to further investigate this defendant and hold him accountable for the deadly drugs he put out onto the streets of Suffolk County,” he added.

According to the investigation and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea, on June 7, 2023, at about 3:30 a.m., Leshinsky called 911 to report a burglary in progress at Quantitative Laboratories. When officers from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fifth Precinct responded to the scene, they observed broken glass at the entrance of the lab.

During their investigation, police discovered what appeared to be a clandestine laboratory that was involved in the manufacture, production, and preparation of methamphetamine and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic substance, amongst other controlled substances, the DA’s office said.

Leshinsky is due back in court for sentencing on March 20.