By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 37-year-old Sycamore man will spend the next five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to operating a methamphetamine lab in Alabaster’s Shelby Motor Lodge hotel on U.S. 31.

Jason Lee Jones, who lists an address on Handley Street in Sycamore, pleaded guilty to one felony count of unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance during a Nov. 30 hearing in Shelby County Circuit Court.

As a result of Jones’ guilty plea, Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sentenced Jones to five years in the Alabama Penitentiary. Jones received 241 days of jail credit for time served in jail between his arrest date and sentencing date.

While incarcerated, Jones must complete a substance abuse treatment program, according to court records. He also must surrender his driver’s license.

A felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia against Jones were dropped as the result of a plea agreement.

Jones’ pleaded guilty to operating a meth lab and producing a controlled substance at 1550 First St. N. in Alabaster on April 3. At the time of Jones’ arrest, former Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force Commander Lt. Kevin Turner said the Task Force responded to the hotel after the Alabaster Police Department discovered the lab.

Jones will serve his five-year sentence from Shelby County alongside a 50-month sentence he received after pleading guilty to an unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance charge in Talladega County in October.

He also served a three-year prison sentence beginning in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to a felony third-degree burglary charge.