Man jailed for entering woman’s home at night

A man will spend time in state prison after he broke into a Pottstown woman’s home while she slept.

NORRISTOWN » A Philadelphia man is on his way to state prison after he admitted to illegally entering a Pottstown woman’s apartment while she and her family slept.

Jamal John-Sha Pistoria, 24, of the 1500 block of East Tulpehocken Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to two to four years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal trespass in connection with the September 2016 incident at a North Charlotte Street residence in Pottstown.

Judge Gail A. Weilheimer, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, said Pistoria is eligible for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ Quehanna Boot Camp, a military-style, motivational and disciplinary program located in Clearfield County.

An investigation began about 12:55 a.m. Sept. 18, 2016, when borough police responded to an apartment in the first block of North Charlotte Street for a report of a suspicious male being inside the victim’s residence, according to a criminal complaint. The victim told police she was sleeping, with her three children in the apartment, when she heard a loud noise and when she went to investigate found her apartment door open and an unknown male, Pistoria, standing outside her apartment.

When the victim confronted Pistoria he admitted to having been inside her apartment, claiming he was chasing another male, according to court documents. The victim became fearful and told Pistoria she was going to check on her children.

“The defendant stated to (the victim) that he already checked on her children, then stated that he had a gun. The male then took (the victim’s) hand and placed it on the gun that was located on his left hip,” Pottstown Police Officer Christopher Zahorchak alleged in the arrest affidavit.

The victim ran back into her apartment because “she took the defendant’s actions as a threat against her life,” police said. Once the victim got back inside her apartment she noticed the contents of her purse were dumped on the kitchen floor and that a bank card was missing, according to the arrest affidavit.

Armed with a description of the intruder, police, a short time later, observed Pistoria on a porch in the 300 block of King Street. When police confronted him Pistoria stated, “it’s just a BB gun,” according to the criminal complaint. When Pistoria was detained police recovered a BB gun and found the victim’s stolen bank card in his left pocket, according to the criminal complaint.

Police also alleged in court documents that Pistoria was possessing heroin at the time of his arrest.

The victim and two other witnesses who were in the vicinity of her apartment at the time of the incident subsequently positively identified Pistoria as the man they saw at the apartment.

Other charges of burglary, robbery and possession of a controlled substance were dismissed against Pistoria as part of the plea agreement, according to court documents.