Man draws prison time for home invasion
NORRISTOWN » A Telford man is on his way to state prison after he admitted to participating in a home invasion in Hatfield Borough.
Stevan James Gibson, 46, of the first block of Reliance Court, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to six to 12 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary in connection with a Dec. 22, 2016, incident at a residence on East Broad Street in Hatfield.
Judge William R. Carpenter imposed the punishment and ordered Gibson to have no contact with the victim of the burglary.
Other charges of robbery and criminal trespass and several weapons offenses were dismissed against Gibson in exchange for his guilty plea to the felony burglary-related charges.
Gibson’s alleged co-defendant, Helen Anne Grant, 45, of the 7600 block of Blue Church Road, Coopersburg, Lehigh County, is still awaiting court action on burglary-related charges in connection with the incident, according to court records.
An investigation began when Hatfield Township police responded to a home in the first block of East Broad Street about 11:26 a.m. for a report of an armed man forcing his way into a residence, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators learned that the resident was home with her newborn child when two people, including a man who had a silver handgun, burst into the home and ransacked it and took cash.
“I walked through the home and observed the home in disarray and the contents of drawers in the bedroom dumped on the floor,” Hatfield Township Detective Sgt. John A. Ciarlello wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the victim was “visibly shaking and crying.”
Neither the resident nor her newborn baby was injured during the home invasion, detectives said.
According to police, Gibson knew the victim.
Investigators alleged Grant also entered the house and watched over the victim while Gibson ransacked the home. A check of the bedroom revealed that about $40 in cash was stolen froma bedroom dresser, according to the arrest affidavit.
The victim positively identified Gibson and Grant as the suspects. The pair was taken into custody the next day by Allentown police, authorities said.