Lynn drug dealer sentenced to three years in prison

SALEM – A Lynn man twice caught selling cocaine and heroin in 2009 was sentenced Monday to serve three years in state prison.Euristene Ferraras, 26, last known address of 24 Elmwood Ave., Lynn, changed his innocent plea to guilty Monday morning in Salem Superior Court, to a charge of trafficking over 14 grams of cocaine as well as a reduced charge of possession of heroin with the intent to distribute.Ferraras had been indicted on a charge of trafficking over 28 grams of heroin, but his plea to the reduced charge spared him a mandatory seven-year state prison term.The confession was the result of plea negotiations between Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio and defense lawyer Bernard Grossberg.The charges arise out of two drug deals in Lynn in the fall of 2009.On Sept. 29, Ferraras was involved in a drug transaction in which $500 was exchanged for about 14 grams of cocaine with the use of a confidential informant.Police later stopped Ferraras in a black Volvo on a motor vehicle infraction on Union Street and found the $500 in marked bills on the seat of the car, according to Camelio.Ferraras was released on bail but about a week later on Oct. 5 he was involved in another drug deal in which three fingers of heroin was purchased by a confidential informant in the Highlands area on Hamilton Street.Police surveillance monitored the drug deals with the use of phones, according to Camelio.Ferraras’ admission to the charges was that he actively assisted in the drug transactions with the confidential informant. He was eventually picked up on a warrant during a drug sweep in Lynn in October of 2009.Judge Howard J. Whitehead imposed the sentence and credited Ferraras the 15 months (452 days) he has spent in jail awaiting trial.The North Shore Gang Task Force and FBI agents worked together in the drug investigation and arrests.