STRUTHERS Judge sentences man on drug, trespass charges

STRUTHERS -- Judge James Dunn sentenced Christopher Gentile, 30, of Clingan Road to 180 days in jail and a $100 fine plus court costs on a reduced charge of drug abuse after his trial in municipal court Wednesday.
The judge also ordered 180 days in jail and a $100 fine, and suspended court costs, on a trespassing charge stemming from an incident in July in which Gentile showed up uninvited and refused to leave the home of his 3-year-old daughter and her mother.
Originally, Gentile was charged with drug abuse and conveying drugs into a detention facility after Struthers police confiscated a tablet of OxyContin that Gentile had hidden in his sock when he was booked into Struthers jail in August. He was being booked on felony drug charges filed by the Mahoning County Drug Task Force.
Gentile will serve his sentences concurrently with the one he received Dec. 4 in connection with the felony drug offenses. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Gentile had pleaded guilty in August.
Police said Gentile was the ring leader of a group of drug dealers in the Struthers and Poland area, supplying them with cocaine that he processed in a secret room in his father's house. He was arrested June 1 after authorities executed search warrants at his Poland home and the Struthers residence of his father. During the search, police seized cocaine, drug processing equipment and weapons, including a machine gun with silencer.