N. Coventry man jailed for knifepoint carjacking
NORRISTOWN >> A North Coventry man who carjacked a man in Bridgeport at knifepoint and later fled from police and sparked a manhunt in Upper Pottsgrove that included a K9 unit and a state police helicopter faces up to 14 years in prison.
Brandon Joseph Quintrell, 31, of the 600 block of West Schuylkill Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6-to-14-years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of robbery in connection with incidents that occurred in Bridgeport and Upper Pottsgrove in August 2018.
Judge Thomas C. Branca imposed the sentence as part of a plea agreement.
An investigation began on
Aug. 19, 2018, when a man appeared at the Bridgeport Police Department to report that he was robbed of his vehicle in the borough about 6 a.m. by a man who held a knife to his neck, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim, who police said had an intellectual disability, reported that he was at the Walmart in Pottstown at 3 a.m. when a man, later determined to be Quintrell, approached him and asked for a ride. The victim agreed to give Quintrell a ride.
“The victim stated that he did not know where he physically was over the course of his travels with the male,” Bridgeport Detective Bill Murphy wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The victim said at one point during the drive he came to a dead end. There, Quintrell exited the back seat, walked to the driver’s door, opened it and “put a small folding knife to the victim’s neck,” according to the criminal complaint.
“At that time, the male stated to the victim, ‘I’m jacking you’ and ‘I’m taking your car,’” Murphy alleged. “The male in question then got into the driver’s seat and took off.”
The victim described landmarks that led police to determine the carjacking occurred in Bridgeport.
A day later, about 4:25 p.m. Aug. 20, Upper Pottsgrove police observed the stolen 2005 Suzuki sedan traveling northbound on Route 100 and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.
However, the driver, subsequently determined to be Quintrell, refused to stop and led police on a chase along various township roadways, ignoring stop signs and traffic signals along the way, according to the criminal complaint also filed by Upper Pottsgrove Police Officer Andrew Millard.
Township police eventually terminated the chase as Quintrell headed south on Route 100 at a high rate of speed and they notified Pottstown and North Coventry police to be on the lookout
for the vehicle, court papers indicate.
A short time later police determined Quintrell crashed the vehicle into an embankment near West Moyer Road and Farmington Avenue. Witnesses said Quintrell fled into a nearby wooded area, according to the arrest affidavit.
A Pottstown police K9 unit and a state police helicopter joined in the search, which took authorities to areas including Levengood Road and Colebrookdale Road, but Quintrell was not found that day, court papers indicate.
“Police units searching for the subject advised they followed the scent trail to an abandoned barn where the creek bed came out near Levengood Road. Search of the barn yielded negative results. Scent trail terminated,” Murphy alleged.
Court documents do not indicate when police took Quintrell into custody.
The victim, of Lehigh County, subsequently identified Quintrell in a photo lineup as the man who carjacked him.
Other charges of aggravated assault, theft by unlawful taking, possessing an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering other persons and traffic violations were dismissed against Quintrell as part of the plea agreement.
“The victim stated that he did not know where he physically was over the course of his travels with the male.” - Bridgeport Detective Bill Murphy