Police: Baby found near gun during Lynn drug search

LYNN – Lynn Police searching an apartment for drugs Friday entered to find a 6-month-old baby sitting amongst drug paraphernalia on a mattress that concealed a loaded revolver, police said Monday.?The baby is literally sitting on top of a loaded gun that could go off at any minute from under the mattress,” Lt. Christopher Kelly said.Lynn Police detectives and members of the Drug Task Force arrested Lyndon Darryl Rambert, 47, and two others Friday night while executing a search and seizure warrant for Rambert at 53 Arlington St. #6. Upon entering the apartment, officers located Rambert in a front bedroom along with the infant, Kelly said. Under the mattress on which the infant lay, officers found a fully loaded .357 magnum revolver.The child was left at the scene in the custody of his mother, who was not charged with a crime, Kelly said. But an officer filed a report with the Department of Children and Families, who are now actively investigating the incident.Calls to the DCF office in Lynn were not returned.Kelly said numerous factors could account for the mother not being taken into custody, including where the mother was in the apartment relative to the infant and the fact that she was not listed on the search warrant. The mother is listed on the arrest report as a 33-year-old homeless woman from Lynn.Police also arrested Anthony Philip Wheeler, 30, and Audrey Frederick, 63, who were ordered held on no bail and $1,000 bail, respectively. The Arlington Street apartment is leased in Frederick?s name, but Rambert also lives there with her and another woman, a police report said.Wheeler is charged with numerous probation violations, several warrants and possession of cocaine, and will be held without bail until his next hearing unless he the probation department says otherwise, Conlon said. Frederick is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm without a license and unlawful possession of ammunition.Before officers began their search, Rambert told them there were no drugs or firearms in the home, a police report said, but police found two crack pipes on a coffee table in the living room, a substance believed to be cocaine in plastic bags, prescription pills and numerous rounds of ammunition, along with the firearm. No one in the house produced a license to carry a gun, the report said.Items such as scales and cut sandwich bags, which are often used in the distribution of drugs, were also seized as evidence, according to the report.Following the prosecutor?s request for $20,000 cash bail for Rambert, his attorney, Chris Mangos, of Topsfield, acknowledged that Rambert has 16 default warrants under four aliases, but said he “appears more often than not” when summoned to court.Frederick?s attorney, Alicia Andrews, of Lynn, denied Frederick knew about the drugs or the firearms during the arraignment.?She had no idea what was happening. She was actually in bed and in her pajamas when the police came. She?s in her pajamas and slippers now,” Andrews said.Andrews emphasized outside the courtroom that the infant did not belong to any of the defendants.?He was the baby of a visitor. The child was with his mother and the mother was not charged,” Andrews said.Rambert is being held at Essex House of Correction in lieu of bail, according to court documents.This incident does not reflect on Lynn as a whole but on unfit parents,” Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said. “I will be following up to be sure that the infant and any other child in the home are properly protected from such endangerment.”All three individuals are due back in court for a probable cause hearing on April 4.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].