Bail set at $5K for Peabody woman in Lynn convenience store robbery case

SALEM – A Superior Court judge set $5,000 cash bail for a Peabody woman, who apparently was under the effects of alcohol and drugs, when she robbed a Western Avenue convenience store in Lynn of $622 at gunpoint.Christine DeGenova, 35, of 6 Dark Lane, entered her plea of not guilty Monday morning to masked armed robbery and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon before Judge Howard J. Whitehead.Assistant District Attorney Michael P. Hickey, who was seeking a $25,000 cash bail to ensure her appearance, said the case concerned an incident in Lynn on Oct. 12 in which a loaded .22 handgun was used in the holdup.It was about 2:30 a.m., when Lynn police officers John Harkness and William Rogers were on patrol and stopped at the 7-Eleven Store at 50 Western Ave.In the meantime, an open 911 call was transmitted from the store for help in connection with a robbery in progress.When the officers rushed inside, they spotted the robber wielding a gun, wearing large dark sunglasses and a hooded sweatshirt over the head, clutching a wad of cash as the thief struggled behind the counter with the store clerk.Harkness came up behind the robber, pinned the would-be-robber down on the counter while Rogers grabbed the barrel of the gun and subdued the robber, freeing the .22 caliber revolver and the $622 in cash from the thief?s hand.It was not until her sunglasses came off that police realized the holdup man was a female.The robbery and struggle with the store clerk and officers was captured on the store video surveillance, Hickey told Whitehead.Defense lawyer Julie Buszuwski asked for $1,000 cash bail saying her client was not a woman of means, grew up in Everett, but has lived in Peabody for six years, has bi-polar disorder, and has two children who live with her mother.She said DeGenova had worked retail in the past but was unemployed at the time.Buszuwski told Whitehead that at the time of the incident DeGenova was under the extreme “effects of drugs and alcohol that day,” as she disputed that the gun was loaded. She asked for the lower bail saying it was more than adequate to ensure her client?s appearance in court.In setting the bail, Whitehead noted that the incident was “very serious, but said if she makes the $5,000 bail pending trial she is to be on house arrest, monitored by a bracelet and can only leave for court, medical and attorney appointments.It is not known if DeGenova, who apparently was living in a shelter on Bourbon Street in Peabody at the time of her arrest, will make the bail.Her next scheduled court date is Feb. 1 for a pretrial conference.