Tilton resident set to be sentenced for fatal overdose captured on video

LACONIA — A Tilton resident is due to be sentenced next week after being found guilty for selling fentanyl to someone who overdosed on the opioid drug and died, an event that was captured by a surveillance camera in the accused's apartment.

Albert Lynch, 50, was found guilty of sale of a narcotic drug with death resulting, as well as related charges of falsifying evidence, possession of a controlled drug with intent to sell, and possession of a controlled drug.

A jury deliberated for about one hour before returning the verdict on Sept. 15. The verdict followed a three-day trial in Belknap Superior Court.

During the trial the jury watched a video captured by a home security camera inside Lynch’s apartment, which shows the 38-year-old victim ingesting the drug and moments later going into convulsions and then ultimately becoming unresponsive. At no time did Lynch appear to give any kind of first aid or call 9-1-1.

According to a police officer’s affidavit showing probable cause to arrest Lynch, police were first called at about 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2020, by which time the victim, a Gilmanton man, had been dead about eight hours.

The call came from the victim’s girlfriend, who went to Lynch’s apartment on Laconia Road. She told police she went there because her boyfriend, a recovering drug addict, told her that he had bought drugs from Lynch in the past and that if he ever relapsed she would likely find him at Lynch’s place.

When the girlfriend arrived at the apartment she frantically pounded on the door. When Lynch finally opened the door she could see the victim lying on the floor unresponsive. His complexion was blue, and his body was cold, she told police, according to the affidavit.

When she asked Lynch what had happened, he answered that the victim was just “sleeping it off,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit states that when the officer arrived on the scene he noticed two surveillance cameras. He was able to get a warrant authorizing a search of the apartment for drugs and drug paraphernalia, as well as for any recording of the surveillance video.

One video clip showed the victim cooking the drug, injecting the liquified drug into his arm and spraying a small amount of the solution in the vial of the syringe into his mouth. After taking a second shot the video shows the victim drop to the floor, then start to convulse and make loud moaning sounds.

While this was happening Lynch was standing at the kitchen stove checking on potatoes he was cooking. He stopped and stared at the victim and at one point was heard saying, “Don’t you [expletive] die.”

A later video clip shows Lynch in his bedroom stuffing items into a plastic garbage bag and taking them away, according to the affidavit.

Lynch is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 12, according to Deputy Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier, who prosecuted the case.

Cormier said Monday that he had not yet made a sentencing recommendation in the case. The charge of selling an illegal drug that results in death is potentially punishable by life in prison.

Lynch has been held in preventive detention in the Belknap County Corrections facility since his arrest on Jan. 25, 2020. It took over 2 1/2 years to bring the case to trial, largely due to the COVID pandemic.