Bucks County man jailed for assault at Hatboro bar

“The victim…was located at the bar and exhibited injuries to the top of his head, which consisted of a laceration and moderate amount of bleeding.”

_ Hatboro Police Officer Conner Dilks

NORRISTOWN >> An altercation at a Hatboro bar has landed a Bucks County man in jail on assault charges.

Steven John Janson, 40, of the 200 block of Greene Street, Warminster, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 11½-to-23months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault in connection with an incident during which he punched a Hatboro man inside Richie’s Too Pub and Restaurant in Hatboro in December 2018.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Janson to complete an anger management counseling program as a condition of the sentence.

Additionally, the judge ordered Janson, formerly of the 500 block of Olive Street in Warminster, to pay $725 in restitution to the Hatboro man he assaulted and to have no contact with the victim.

Court documents indicate Hatboro police responded to the bar on Jacksonville Road about 12:48 a.m. Dec. 1 for a report of an assault.

“Numerous patrons stated that the suspect and his female companion fled the bar in an unknown direction,” Hatboro Police Officer Conner Dilks wrote in the arrest affidavit. “The victim…was located at the bar and exhibited injuries to the top of his head, which consisted of a laceration and moderate amount of bleeding.

“The victim was subsequently transported to the hospital to receive medical attention for his head injury,” Dilks added.

During the investigation, witnesses identified Janson as the assaulter.

Witnesses told police that the victim and his girlfriend were conversing inside the bar when another female, Janson’s companion, approached the victim and stated she didn’t like the way the victim was speaking to his girlfriend. The victim told Janson’s companion “to mind her own business,” according to the criminal complaint.

A short time later, Janson “walked over to the victim and punched him in the face, causing him to fall backward to the ground,” Dilks wrote in the criminal complaint. After the assault, Janson and his female companion left the bar, got into a vehicle and left the scene, police said.

Police obtained video surveillance footage that recorded the assault inside the bar and positively identified Janson as the assailant.

Other charges of harassment and disorderly conduct were dismissed against Janson as part of the plea agreement.