Lansdale Woman Arrested on Drug Charges for Third Time in 10 Months

Keith Heffintrayer | North Penn Now•

Rebecca Demasi, 22, as seen in her September 2019 mugshot.

"You have to be f—king kidding me. No!”

Those were the words allegedly uttered by 22-year-old Rebecca Demasi, of Lansdale, when she realized she was about to sell a quarter pound of marijuana to an undercover detective in the parking lot of the Broadmore Apartments on Jan. 11. For Demasi, it would be her third arrest on drug charges in Lansdale in the last 10 months, and her fourth arrest in the North Penn area since September 2019.

Demasi was initially arrested with her boyfriend, 23-year-old David Graham, in Montgomery Township on Sept. 18, 2019, after staffers at the Staybridge Suites reported smelling an odor of marijuana emanating from their room. Police ultimately recovered a large amount of money, drug paraphernalia, packaging materials, vaporizer cartridges containing THC and a Smith and Wesson handgun from the room, and the duo was subsequently charged, according to the 60-page criminal complaint. [Read about the incident here.]

Both Demasi and Graham would be bailed out — Graham on $25,000 cash and Demasi on $25,000 unsecured — and court proceedings for the pair would end up facing significant delays caused by the initial surge of the coronavirus pandemic.

While a resolution to their case was still pending, in April 2021 a home belonging to Graham’s mother on West Fifth Street in Lansdale was raided by members of the Lansdale Borough Police Department and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s Narcotics Enforcement Team. Graham and Demasi, who were residing in the basement of the home, were both subsequently arrested after investigators allegedly recovered more than 15 pounds of marijuana, Xanax, suspected LSD, oxycodone, multiple firearms, body armor, drug paraphernalia and a large amount of currency in the home. [Read about the drug raid here.]

Graham received a bail of $100,000 cash and Demasi was assigned $25,000 cash bail. Both would end up posting bail, and though they already had two cases pending, investigators allege the duo continued to sell drugs, resulting in another raid at the West Fifth Street home in September 2021.

In a 16-page criminal complaint filed in district court on Sept. 15, investigators from the Montgomery County Detective Bureau said Graham and Demasi reappeared on their radar in August 2021 after a confidential informant (CI) identified Graham and Demasi as an ongoing source where they could purchase various illegal drugs via texting or Snapchat. A search warrant was served on the home, which uncovered five pounds of marijuana, eight sealed boxes of liquid THC, oxycodone pills, a bag containing hundreds of orange pills and various drug paraphernalia, according to the complaint. [Read about the second drug raid here.]

Following his arrest, Graham was assigned $200,000 cash bail and his previous bails were revoked, according to court records. Demasi was again assigned $25,000 cash bail — which was posted on the same day — and unlike Graham, her previous bails were not revoked.

Free on three sets of bail, Demasi again appeared on the radar of the Montgomery County Narcotics Enforcement Team in late December 2021, after investigators learned she was allegedly engaging in the illegal sale of various drugs through a private group on the Telegram app.

On Jan. 10, an undercover detective began communicating with Demasi via the app, and Demasi agreed to sell a quarter pound of marijuana for $540, according to the criminal complaint. Demasi then directed the undercover detective to meet her at the Broadmore Apartments at noon on Jan. 11, however as she entered the undercover vehicle to complete the transaction, she saw police walking towards the vehicle and said "You have to be f—king kidding me. No,” the report states.

Police recovered the quarter pound of marijuana at the scene, and later recovered a large amount of marijuana, packaging materials, digital scales, a bag of psilocybin (mushrooms) and $400 cash from her bedroom at her father’s home on North Line Street, according to the complaint.

Demasi was charged on Jan. 11 with two felony counts of possession with intent to distribute, one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility and misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. District Judge Suzan Leonard set bail at $10,000 cash, which Demasi posted two days later, according to court records.

Demasi waived her preliminary hearing and is awaiting formal arraignment on the new charges.

Court records also show that Demasi and Graham entered open guilty pleas on Dec. 8 to one count of conspiracy – possession with intent to distribute (Demasi) and one count of possession with intent to distribute (Graham), stemming from their September 2019 arrest in Montgomery Township. All other charges from that specific incident were dropped in exchange for their plea, court records show.

An open guilty plea means there is no agreement in place with prosecutors regarding a sentencing recommendation.

All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.