Former Lynn man sentenced on drug, weapons charges

WOBURN – A former Lynn man who was convicted four years ago on drug trafficking and firearm charges, but had skipped out during jury deliberations, was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to seven and a half years behind bars.Germaine Gentle, 30, who had lived at 240 Broadway, #B2, in Lynn, was found guilty of trafficking over 28 grams of cocaine, trafficking cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school zone, distribution of cocaine as well as possession of a firearm and ammunition without a license.Jurors had deliberated for five and a half hours over a two-day span, but reported their verdict to an empty chair on Nov. 30, 2004 after Gentle, who had been free on $5,000 cash bail, failed to appear for the conclusion of his trial.A warrant had been issued for his arrest.He was intercepted in October on the warrant after trying to enter Toronto, Canada from Barbados.Tuesday afternoon in Woburn Superior Court, Judge Elizabeth M. Fahey ordered Gentle to serve five years in state prison for the cocaine trafficking charge and also imposed another mandatory 30-month jail sentence for trafficking cocaine within a school zone, which will commence when he completes his state prison term.She also imposed another two-year sentence on the gun charge, but that will be served together with the five-year prison term.In essence, Gentle will serve seven and a half years behind bars, but because he has a 30-month jail sentence instead of a prison term, he could be paroled after serving just half of that punishment.Assistant District Attorney Kristen R. Buxton sought a longer punishment, suggesting up to 10 years in state prison.She described Gentle as a “drug dealer who used guns for his trade.”Buxton emphasized that her recommendation was based on the fact he defaulted during the trial and that prior to his arrest, authorities had information that Gentle was dealing drugs.Gentle was arrested March 10, 2003 at about 6 p.m., after police observed him selling cocaine from his white Hyundai Santa Fe in a parking lot of the 7-Eleven convenience store on Lynnfield Street near Wyoma Square.Police followed and stopped the buyer, a 23-year-old Billerica man, who told police he and two friends paid $100 for the cocaine.Lynn police then went to his apartment on Broadway and saw the Hyundai Gentle was driving parked outside his apartment.As police entered his home to arrest him, they saw Gentle toss a bag out a bedroom window. Police retrieved the bag containing 50 grams of cocaine along with a magazine with 9mm ammunition and 23 rounds of 9mm ammunition.Police also found a 9mm Highpoint semi-automatic pistol in his bedroom under a mattress at the apartment and $9,290 in cash, believed to be proceeds from drug sales.The gun was fingerprinted and Gentles’ prints were found on the gun, police said.The apartment was within yards of the Pickering Junior High School.His 6-year-old daughter was also in the apartment during the raid.Her diaper was also full of marijuana, police said.His version was that the drugs in his apartment were not his nor was he selling them to kids.Defense lawyer Scott Bratton asked for the minimum punishment under the law, which the judge imposed.