Dad arrested in butane honey oil lab explosion pleads guilty
Nevada County Sheriff's Office
David Schwab
A man arrested after his fiancee and child were injured in a butane honey oil lab explosion took a plea in court Monday in return for a suspended prison sentence and entry into a residential drug treatment program.
David Brooks Schwab, 26, pleaded guilty in Nevada County Superior Court to recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure, manufacturing butane honey oil and felony child abuse in connection with the explosion and fire in early May.
Schwab’s fiancée and the couple’s baby girl were taken by ambulance to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital with minor to moderate injuries and a dog was found dead inside the home on Poke Place, off Banner Mountain.
Firefighters contained the blaze from spreading into the wildland area and also from reaching any neighboring homes; at least 90 percent of the two-story home was destroyed.
Before his arrest, Schwab stated on camera in an interview with CBS-TV in Sacramento that he and his fiancée and child were in the kitchen at the time of the explosion when the refrigerator door blew off; he said it took him by surprise.
At his sentencing, Judge Candace Heidelberger sentenced him to an aggregate term of seven years and four months in state prison, but suspended the sentence so that Schwab could be admitted to adult drug court.
He also was sentenced to serve 260 days in custody in county jail, with 230 days credit.
The remaining 30 days in custody were suspended so that he could be placed immediately into a residential treatment program, possibly for six months, and then outpatient treatment.
Schwab was also placed on five years formal probation and must complete a 52-week child abuse prevention program.
“This is an opportunity for you to avoid a pretty lengthy prison sentence.” Heidelberger told him.
Schwab’s co-defendant, Richard Ray Kuhn, 34, is set to enter a plea on the same charges on Sept. 10, and remains in custody on $500,000 bail.