Lansdale man headed to jail for selling heroin
NORRISTOWN — A Lansdale man is headed to jail after he admitted to selling heroin in the borough and to violating his previous probation on a drug dealing charge.
Paul Michael Gensert, 34, of the 300 block of Acorn Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to a total of 11½ to 23 months in the county jail, to be followed by three years’ probation, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession with intent to deliver heroin and violating his probation in connection with incidents that occurred between January and February.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Gensert to complete 24 hours of community service. Gensert also will be placed under addict supervision by the probation department, which means Gensert will be subject to random urinalysis and must abide by all recommendations for treatment.
Gensert is eligible for the jail’s work release program during his incarceration.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, in August 2012 and again in January 2013 police received information from separate sources that a man named “Paulie” was selling heroin in Lansdale. The investigation subsequently identified Gensert as the suspect, and in January, detectives conducted a controlled heroin buy from Gensert at an undisclosed location in Lansdale, according to the arrest affidavit.
On the afternoon of Feb. 1, authorities carried out a search warrant at Gensert’s home and stopped him as he was driving his Ford pickup truck near the corner of North Cannon Avenue and West Sixth Street in Lansdale, according to court records. A search of Gensert’s truck and person turned up six blue, glassine bags of suspected heroin, according to police.
While in custody, the criminal complaint alleged, Gensert told investigators he’d been selling heroin “for the past 4-5 months.”
At the time of Gensert’s arrest he was on probation for a 2010 conviction of a charge of possession with intent to deliver cocaine.
On April 1, 2010, Gensert pleaded guilty to a felony possession with intent to deliver charge — stemming from a 2009 arrest in Lansdale by the county’s Municipal Drug Task Force — and was sentenced to seven years’ probation and 24 hours of community service, according to court documents.
Gensert admitted that his latest arrest was a violation of his 2010 probation and the judge revoked the previous probationary sentence and imposed the jail time against Gensert.