Duo Caught in Hotel Room with Money, Drugs and Stolen Handgun: Police

North Penn Now Staff•

20-year-old Rebecca Demasi, left, and 21-year-old David Graham, right.

A pair of Lansdale residents are facing felony drug charges, after police allegedly discovered drug activity in their hotel room at the Staybridge Suites in Montgomery Township.

According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the hotel—located along the 100 block of Garden Golf Boulevard—at 11:43 a.m. on Sept. 18 for a report of an odor of marijuana emanating from a guest room. Upon arrival, police spoke with management, who stated that a housekeeper reported the smell, and the room was rented by 20-year-old Rebecca Demasi, the report states.

As police approached the Demasi’s room, they described the odor as overbearing, according to the report. No one was present at the time, so police posted themselves outside of the room while applying for a search warrant. While waiting, police said that Demasi and a male—identified as 21-year-old David Graham—approached the room from a nearby stairwell, and both initially denied that they were staying in the room, the report states.

Demasi and Graham admitted to renting the room upon further questioning, and Graham admitted to having a small amount of marijuana on him at the time of questioning, the report states. Both denied that there were any narcotics in the hotel room, according to the report.

Once the search warrant was approved, police entered the room and allegedly found approximately $9,000 in cash, multiple scales, a money counter, multiple large bags of marijuana, numerous packages of vaporizer cartridges containing THC, multiple packages of a wax-like substance believed to contain THC, numerous empty heat-sealed bags and other paraphernalia used to package and sell marijuana, according to the report.

Police also recovered a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun from the room, that had been reported stolen out of Lansdale, the report states. As police interviewed Graham, he reportedly admitted to the ownership of all of the marijuana in the room, and said he had purchased the firearm off of the street, according to the report.

As a result of the incident:

Graham has been charged with five felony counts of possession with intent to distribute, one felony count of receiving stolen property and misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Demasi has been charged with one felony count of conspiracy–possession with intent to distribute and two misdemeanor counts of conspiracy–possession of a controlled substance.

Graham was arraigned on Sept. 18 by Magisterial District Judge Michael Quinn, who set bail at $25,000 cash. He was then remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, but was bailed out two days later. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy on Oct. 7 at 10 a.m.

Demasi was arraigned on Sept. 24 by Magisterial District judge Suzan Leonard, who set bail at $25,000 unsecured. She was then released from custody. Her next court appearance is a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy on Oct. 10 at noon.

(Editor’s note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause, and reflects the point of view of the police. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)