Cheltenham man jailed for drug and weapons possession

NORRISTOWN – A Cheltenham Township man has been sentenced to prison after admitting to weapons and drug offenses.

Raphael James Dorsey, 52, of 7400 Euston Road in the Elkins Park neighborhood of Cheltenham Township, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to four to 10 years in a state correctional facility after pleading guilty to failure to possess a firearm and possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver in connection with a February 2024 incident in the township.

Judge Thomas M. DelRicci imposed the sentence as part of a plea agreement.

According to court documents, state police received information that Dorsey was dealing drugs and launched an investigation into Dorsey in January 2024.

While conducting surveillance on Dorsey in the county and Philadelphia on Feb. 26, state police stopped Dorsey's 2018 Chevrolet Suburban in the area of ​​Tookany Creek Parkway and Ashbourne Road in Cheltenham. Due to the ongoing drug investigation and information about Dorsey's alleged activities that day, officers requested permission to search Dorsey's vehicle, the affidavit states.

“Dorsey stated that there was marijuana in the vehicle. Dorsey verbally consented to search the vehicle,” State Trooper Luke McIlvaine claimed in the arrest affidavit.

During a search of the vehicle, police discovered a plastic bag labeled “ice cream cake” containing about 3.5 grams of marijuana, several bags of “THC gummy bears,” six vials of crack cocaine, 63 colorful pills of suspected ecstasy and 30 oxycodone pills, according to the indictment. Some of the drugs were found hidden in the cavity behind the vehicle's radio screen, police said.

Police also obtained a search warrant for Dorsey's residence. During that search, police discovered a .45-caliber Glock weapon with 11 rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber, a 12-gauge shotgun, numerous plastic bags containing suspected fentanyl, crack and ecstasy, drug packaging materials and $6,977 in cash, according to the criminal complaint.

In charging him, the police justified their decision by arguing that Dorsey had already been convicted of a criminal offense and was therefore not allowed to possess a firearm.

Further investigation revealed that the confiscated Glock pistol had been reported stolen.

The judge ordered that the firearms seized during the investigation be handed over to the district prosecutor's office for destruction.

Defense attorney Jonathan R. Altschuler represented Dorsey during the trial.