Ex-Hatfield man admits peddling crystal meth

NORRISTOWN>> Aformer Hatfield man potentially faces jail time nowthat he’s admitted to peddling crystal meth.

Valerio Reale, 47, formerly of the 100 block of Colmar Avenue, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court this week to felony charges of possession with intent to deliver crystal methamphetamine and conspiracy in connection with incidents that occurred in August 2014. Judge Gary S. Silow deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Reale, who most recently resided in the 100 block of Hendricks Street in Ambler.

Reale, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces the possibility of several years in prison on the charges.

With the charges, Hatfield police alleged a search warrant executed at Reale’s residence on Aug. 15, 2014, turned up 12 bags containing crystal methamphetamine — a total of 4.3 grams of the drug were recovered — in a basement bathroom, and that investigators also found assorted identification cards near the drugs belonging to Reale and James Francis Guckavan, 49, who also resided at the home along with his sister, who was Reale’s girlfriend.

Court documents alleged packaging materials including a cutting board with drug residue, glassine bags, twist ties and a digital scale also were discovered near the meth.

“These items were clearly being used to weigh and package the crystal methamphetamine for sale,” Hatfield Detective Sgt. John A. Ciarlello alleged in the arrest affidavit.

Reale, when initially interviewed by detectives, claimed he was just a user of the crystal meth in the basement and that the drugs belonged to Guckavan, according to the arrest affidavit.

But when detectives interviewed Guckavan, he told authorities that he had been selling crystal meth for Reale for two years, according to the criminal complaint. Guckavan told police that Reale would package 0.6gram bags of crystal meth and set a price of $100 per bag, and that Guckavan sold approximately six or seven bags a week, according to the arrest affidavit.

Guckavan, according to the criminal complaint, told investigators that when customers contacted him via cellphone, he would tell Reale what he needed and that Reale would go into the basement bathroom, package the drugs, give them to Guckavan to sell and then Guckavan would bring the money back to Reale.

In exchange, Guckavan stated, Reale would either give him crystal meth to help support his habit or he would let Guckavan slide on some of his monthly rent, according to the affidavit. Guckavan claimed he didn’t know the code to get into the bathroom and said that Reale “would never have given him the code because Reale knows he is an addict,” according to court documents.

Guckavan claimed he didn’t know who was supplying Reale with the meth or if anyone else was selling the drug for Reale, court documents indicate.

Detectives reviewed Guckavan’s cell phone and found “several messages (that) were clearly drug-dealing cell phone communications” between Guckavan and Reale, according to the arrest affidavit. Detectives said that during those communications, Reale, Guckavan and others used the term “hamburgers” as code for crystal meth.

In January, Guckavan pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to deliver drugs and conspiracy and was sentenced to nine to 23 months in jail, to be followed by 18 months of probation and 36 hours of community service, according to court records.

According to previously published reports in the Lansdale Reporter, The Mercury’s sister paper, Reale’s arrest in Hatfield wasn’t his first contact with law enforcement.

In 2008, according to those reports citing federal court records, Reale pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to felony charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison and five years of probation upon his release. According to a 121-page indictment filed by federal prosecutors Reale was one of 15 people charged in connection with a cross-country crystal meth operation.