Man sentenced for drug sales to Murrysville, Greensburg men who died of overdoses

Michelle Rubin had a simple message for one of the men accused of selling her son the drugs he used just before she found him face down and unconscious on the floor of their Murrysville home more than three years ago.

“If you hadn’t sold him that illegal poison he would still be here today,” Rubin said Friday during a guilty plea and sentencing hearing for Demetrius Christmas.

Christmas, 31, of Turtle Creek, pleaded guilty to drug delivery resulting in death charges in two separate cases for selling fentanyl-laced heroin to Rubin’s son, Paul Lucas, and Jeffrey Gettemy Jr. who died nearly seven weeks apart in 2017.

Lucas, 21, was found dead on April 13, and Gettemy, 30, died May 31 in Greensburg.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger sentenced Christmas to serve two concurrent 9- to 18-year prison sentences.

Prosecutors said both Lucas and Gettemy were sold drugs by the same friend who served as an intermediary between them and Christmas.

Lucas’ mother said her son struggled with addiction and died just one day after he was discharged from a drug rehabilitation program.

Gettemy too fought addiction, according to his father and wife.

“Just know you took a very beautiful person off this world. I don’t get to spend the rest of my life with him and now I have to go to the cemetery and look at the ground to see him,” Tiffany Gettemy told the judge.

According to police, Lucas paid friend Jeremy S. Mason $70 for the drugs he purchased from Christmas. During a previous court appearance, Mason testified he paid Christmas $60 for drugs he sold to Gettemy.

Christmas, who attended Friday’s hearing by video from the jail where he has been held since his arrest in April 2018, told both the Lucas and Gettemy families he didn’t know either of his victims.

“I take full responsibility for selling these drugs,” Christmas said. “It was greed.”

Meanwhile Christmas’ defense lawyer Lee Rothman spoke at length about how both the victims, their families, Mason and others were also to blame for the fatal overdoses.

“We all make choices in life,” Rothman said. “I understand why you want to blame Mr. Christmas but they (Lucas and Gettemy) made a choice. People who are addicted to heroin seek it out. If they didn’t get it from my client they would have gotten it from somebody else.”

Mason, 35, of Manor, also faces drug delivery resulting in death charges in connection with both overdoses. Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli said Mason has cooperated with investigators and is expected to plead guilty.