Man faces probation for domestic violence
NORRISTOWN » A Lower Salford man will be under court supervision for seven years after he admitted to assaulting his girlfriend while threatening her with a handgun during a domestic disturbance at his home.
Matthew James Keyser, 22, of the 200 block of Manor Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to a total of seven years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the December 2017 incident.
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Keyser to complete 60 hours of community service and to attend anger management and domestic violence counseling programs as conditions of the sentence. The judge said Keyser also must obtain his general equivalency diploma during the probationary period.
An investigation began about 10:30 a.m. Dec. 12, when Lower Salford police responded to a 911 text message emergency at the Manor Road address. A woman told police that Keyser, her boyfriend, threatened her and her 5-monthold son with a handgun during the course of a domestic disturbance, according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Salford Police Officer Jeffrey Dutill.
“The victim reported she was physically assaulted and choked during the course of the domestic…,” Dutill alleged in the criminal complaint.
An unarmed Keyser eventually walked to the front of the property and was detained by police. Keyser subsequently directed police to a shelf in the basement where the firearm was hidden, according to court documents. Police located a .40-caliber Taurus handgun in a cardboard box at the top of the shelf.
“The firearm contained a fully loaded magazine and one round in the chamber. The firearm was seized as part of this investigation and its alleged use in this domestic complaint,” Dutill wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Other charges of terroristic threats, strangulation, recklessly endangering other persons and harassment were dismissed against Keyser as part of the plea agreement.