Weapons charge lands Hatfield man in prison
NORRISTOWN >> A Hatfield man whose standoff with police, stemming from a domestic-related incident, resulted in a response by a police tactical unit is on his way to state prison for a weapons offense.
Michael Reed Jr., 36, of the 100 block of West Broad Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 3-to-6-years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of person not to possess firearms in connection with the 5½-hour standoff that occurred at his home on Jan. 25, 2018.
Judge William R. Carpenter ordered that Reed be evaluated for mental health supervision. Reed must forfeit any firearms to county detectives and the judge ordered him to have no contact with his ex-girlfriend and her family.
Other charges of terroristic threats, harassment, theft by unlawful taking and possessing an instrument of crime were dismissed against Reed in exchange for his guilty plea to the most serious weapons offense.
An investigation of Reed began on Jan. 25 when Reed’s ex-girlfriend notified police that Reed had begun making threats against her on Jan. 22 and that she “was terrified of him.” Fearing for her safety, the woman went to stay at her parents’ residence in Towamencin, police said.
The woman showed police a text message she received from Reed on Jan. 25.
“The text message contained an image of a handgun with the following message, ‘It’s fully loaded see you and your dad later,’” according to the criminal complaint filed by Towamencin Police Officer Gregory Wert and Towamencin Detective Patrick Horne.
The woman told police she also received three calls and voicemails from Reed. In the third message, according to police, Reed mentioned the photo of the gun he had sent, and claimed he had been given the gun by a “buddy because people were after him,” according to the criminal complaint.
“Reed also mentioned that when the police come for him he would go down with a fight,” Wert and Horne alleged.
Towamencin police obtained an arrest warrant for Reed on charges of terroristic threats and went to Reed’s Hatfield home with the assistance of Hatfield police. Officers made contact with Reed, who was inside the residence and Reed refused commands to exit the residence without the gun and surrender.
“At no time did Michael Reed deny possessing a firearm,” Wert and Horne alleged.
Because of a threat of a firearm in the home, authorities called upon the Montgomery County SWAT Central Region team to assist at the scene. Police surrounded the two-story house and numerous other streets in the area were closed during the standoff.
The standoff lasted 5½ hours before Reed was taken into custody about 8:30 p.m. and the incident was resolved without any injuries.
According to the criminal complaint, police, armed with a search warrant obtained from District Court Judge Edward Levine of Lansdale, entered the West Broad Street residence at about 9 p.m. Police seized a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun that was loaded with five bullets in the magazine and a bullet chambered in the barrel, according to the criminal complaint.
Police alleged Reed was prohibited from possessing a gun due to a 2008 drug conviction.
During the investigation, the owner of the gun told police Reed stole the gun on Jan. 20. The owner of the gun told police that over the course of the next several days he pleaded with Reed to return the firearm.
“Michael Reed refused to return the stolen firearm and told the owner that he ‘needed it,’” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Towamencin and Hatfield police were assisted during the investigation by officers from Lansdale Borough and Montgomery Township, the Volunteer Medical Service Corps, Montgomery County’s Department of Public Safety, and firefighters from the Colmar, Fairmount, Perseverance, Harleysville, and Towamencin fire companies, according to police.
In an unrelated matter, Reed also pleaded guilty to charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person in connection with a three-vehicle crash that occurred in the 300 block of West Broad Street in Souderton on Sept. 3, 2016. That sentence was imposed concurrently with the 3-to-6-year term Reed received for the weapons conviction.