GUILTY SC - Noah McCullough, 2 mos, dies in meth lab home, Roebuck, 17 March 2011

A Roebuck man received a 30-year sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty to child neglect, unauthorized removal of a dead body and drug charges.

Chuck McCullough, 36, of 169 Louisa St., and his estranged wife, Carissa McCullough, 23, were each charged with several crimes after Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies found their 2-month-old child dead in a truck they were driving.

Hayes sentenced McCullough to the maximum for all charges to which he pleaded guilty — including 30 years for manufacturing methamphetamine, third offense. That sentence will run concurrent with possession of methamphetamine, third offense; unlawful neglect of a child; manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of a minor child and unauthorized removal of a dead body.

Whelchel said McCullough was pleading guilty under the Alford doctrine. Under the terms of the plea, a defendant does not admit to the crime but acknowledges that the state has enough evidence to convict him at trial.

McCullough will serve 80 percent of the prison sentence before he's eligible for release, said Murray Glenn, spokesman for the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

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Carissa McCullough, 23, pleaded guilty last week and received a 30-year sentence for child neglect, manufacturing methamphetamine and exposing a child to methamphetamine, but is expected to serve two years of home detention followed by three years of probation if she meets several requirements imposed in Circuit Court Judge Letitia Verdin's sentence. Verdin warned Carissa McCullough she would serve 30 years in prison if she returned to her former lifestyle and did not meet the requirements.

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