Gebhart Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison
ZANESVILLE, Ohio- A Zanesville man at the center of two separate drug-related disturbances involving firearms at local bars was sentenced to prison Tuesday.
The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office said 32-year-old Tristan Gebhart was sentenced by Judge Mark Fleegle to four years and 11 months in prison.
Gebhart had plead guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit establishment, one count of violation of a protection order, one count of aggravated riot and one first-degree felony count of assault.
Detectives who investigated both matters learned that Gebhart was involved in an ongoing dispute with Eric “Weezy” Gibbons. The dispute erupted into a fight on April, 3 at the Putnam Tavern on Putnam Avenue when Gebhart attacked Gibbons from behind. Both men were armed at the time, and both men produced handguns which were subsequently taken from them by other patrons.
No one called the police with regard to that incident. Lead detective James Devoll learned of it after investigating a later violent disturbance on April 8 in which Gebhart appeared at Terrys Tavern on Linden Avenue. At the time, Gebhart was subject to a protection order which prohibited him from possessing a firearm. At the bar, he got into a physical altercation with a female associate of Gibbons concerning the ongoing drug-related dispute.
When a patron confronted Gebhart for shoving a woman, Gebhart sucker-punched that patron, who is seen on video falling to the ground and then standing up to strike Gebhart with a bottle. The entire bar then erupted into a fight.
During this altercation, Gebhart was seen on video removing not one, but two firearms from his clothing and handing one of those guns off to bar staff and another to the girlfriend of a separate, uninvolved, local drug dealer.
After the fight was over, and after being told to leave, Gebhart retrieved one of his guns and demanded the second with gun-in-hand. He fled police and hid the guns behind a local business.
Other individuals, uninvolved in the situation joined the fight, resulting in still pending charges of felony aggravated riot against Reese Tabler, Galand Lewis and Tyler Kirkbride.
Gibbons faces trial for possessing a firearm in a liquor permit premises in August. Garland Lewis remains on the list of Muskingum County Most Wanted.
