92-Year-Old Man Faces Eviction Over Roommate’s Drug-Dealing Arrest

BOSTON —  A 92-year-old man whose roommate, another senior, was arrested on drug-dealing charges faces eviction by building owners who believe he acted as a lookout.

George Royals was allowed by a judge to stay in the two-bedroom apartment until a court-appointed guardian decides whether he should be spared eviction because of his age.

His roommate, 72-year-old William Carter, was kicked out of the subsidized apartment by a judge on Nov. 7. Carter was arrested in an Oct. 8 raid in which police say they found two bundles of heroin and drug paraphernalia in the apartment.

Royals, who was in his bedroom with a woman at the time of the raid, was not arrested.

But officials of the management company, which wants to evict both men, said in court that Royals was Carter’s lookout. They say the apartment is visited by drug users day and night.

Royals said he doesn’t use drugs and Carter, he said, is not a dealer.

“He’s just using drugs. He doesn’t sell it. He’s a good guy,” Royals told the Boston Herald.

Under state law, Royals is responsible for drug activity in the apartment because both men’s names are on the rental contract.