A Northumberland County woman faces time in a state prison after being convicted Monday in Schuylkill County Court of selling heroin in September 2010 in Mahanoy Township.
Francine Gerrity, 44, of Mount Carmel, did not react as the jury of eight women and four men pronounced her guilty of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jurors deliberated about 1 1/2 hours before reaching their verdict to end the one-day trial presided over by President Judge William E. Baldwin.
Baldwin did not immediately sentence Gerrity, instead ordering preparation of a presentence investigation and saying he would schedule her sentencing at a later date.
He accepted a request by First Assistant District Attorney William C. Reiley and increased Gerrity's bail to $25,000 straight cash, which would require her to post that amount in money or a bond to be free pending sentencing, from $25,000 percentage, which would have required her to post $2,500 to go free. Gerrity already was in prison, and returned there in handcuffs after the verdict.
Schuylkill County detectives charged Gerrity with selling two packets of heroin for $120 to a confidential informant, and possessing a third packet, about 3 p.m. Sept. 8, 2010, at a service station along Morea Road in Mahanoy Township.
"She sold me the dope," the confidential informant testified of Gerrity.
Reiley said the total amount of heroin in the packets was 0.07 grams.
"The test I conducted showed a positive reaction for the presence of heroin," an undercover detective testified Monday.
An undercover police officer testified that he gave six prerecorded $20 bills to the confidential informant, and found the same money on the defendant when she was arrested. He also recognized two of the bags of heroin.
"These were the two bags that were handed to me by the confidential informant," the officer testified.
Reiley, who praised the work of the officers and detectives involved, said after the verdict that he would ask Baldwin to sentence Gerrity to a state correctional institution.
"Her background warrants it," he said. Francine Gerrity
Age: 44
Residence: Mount Carmel
Verdict: Guilty of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia
