MAN SENTENCED TO JAIL IN DRUG `SUPERSTORE' CASE

By Steve Ritea, Inquirer Correspondent

With 181 drug transactions cued up on the courtroom VCR, a halfdozen
buyers prepared to testify against him, and a stash of marijuana
confiscated from his office, David H. Beaty knew he had little chance of
being acquitted in Montgomery County Court.

"I told you I thought the jury would take about five minutes, didn't I?"
his lawyer, John I. McMahon Jr., asked Beaty, 43, of Norristown, yesterday.

Distressed, Beaty tilted back his head and drew a deep breath. "Yeah," he
groaned.

With that, he pleaded guilty to running a marijuana "superstore" out of D&K
Car Care in Norristown a business authorities say was "not known for its
detailing."

A tiny video camera installed by Montgomery County detectives recorded
nearly 200 drug transactions most for only $10 in one week in May.

Authorities say Beaty supplied the marijuana and Donald Lee Dessesow, 24,
of Philadelphia, did most of the selling.

Beaty eventually struck a deal with the Montgomery County District
Attorney's Office and agreed to acknowledge his role in the drug sales if
prosecutors agreed to a reduced jail term.

Judge Albert R. Subers reluctantly accepted the agreement yesterday,
calling the negotiated sentence "pretty light," and sentenced Beaty to 29
to 59 months in county prison with five years' consecutive probation.

Dessesow, his partner, entered an open guilty plea yesterday, leaving his
sentence up to Subers. He is out on $200,000 bail, awaiting sentencing
early next year.

Thirtyfive people alleged to be their customers are scheduled to be
sentenced today.