Eddystone man sentenced for stabbing grandmother
MEDIACOURTHOUSE >> A 20-year-old Eddystone man was given three years of intermediate punishment and paroled to a Norristown mental health facility last week after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime in the March stabbing of his grandmother.
Nathan Anthony Falato, of the 1200 block of Lawrence Avenue, will also serve four years of consecutive probation under the negotiated guilty plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Jenna Smith and defense counsel Robert Lodge.
Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Coll, who oversees the mental-health treatment court, also ordered Falato to comply with the recommendations of psychological and psychiatric reports, and to remain medication- and treatment-compliant.
Falato told authorities that he was having thoughts of harming himself and others prior to the March 18 assault on his grandmother, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
The victim was kneeling down and vacuuming in the living room when the March 18 assault occurred. Falato told authorities he went into the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife, then stabbed his grandmother in the back of the neck. The knife broke and he threw the blade and handle in the kitchen trash can, where officers later recovered the pieces.
Law enforcement responded to the Lawrence Avenue address where the grandmother and grandson had been living shortly after 2 p.m. and found the victim outside, bleeding from the back of her neck. She told the officer that Falato had stabbed her, then possible fled. Officers discovered Falato inside the house and took him into custody.
The grandmother was treated at Crozer-Chester Medical Center for a puncture wound to the back of her neck, which required stitches. She told Coll she returned to work the following day, attributing a thick coat to lessening the severity of her injuries.
The victim told the judge she had been living with her grandson for about a year at the time of the attack and that it seemed like a normal day. There was no indication anything was amiss until she was assaulted, she said.
Falato told the judge he had been studying criminal justice at the time and is currently being medicated with the antidepressant Sinequan.
Falato is not eligible for early termination of parole and cannot have any abusive or criminal contact with the victim. He was also ordered to surrender the knife and will not be able to purchase or own any firearms due to the conviction.