Norristown man draws prison for Whitpain crime spree

NORRISTOWN » A Norristown man faces up to 15 years behind bars in connection with a 20 minute crime spree during which he carjacked or tried to carjack numerous terrified drivers in Whitpain.

George Ronald Mackrides III, 34, of the 200 block of East Marshall Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 7½ to 15 years in a state correctional facility on charges of robbery of a motor vehicle, robbery, attempted theft of a motor vehicle, simple assault and recklessly endangering other persons in connection with multiple incidents that occurred in Whitpain on March 17, 2019.

The sentence was imposed by Judge William R. Carpenter, who convicted Mackrides of the charges after hearing testimony during a one-day, nonjury trial last December.

Assistant District Attorney Tanner C. Beck sought a lengthy prison term against Mackrides, arguing the lives of the five victims were altered forever.

“All of them will have to live with that experience for the rest of their lives. None of them feel safe in their own vehicles and neighborhoods anymore because of the defendant’s actions,” Beck argued.

Beck asked the judge to impose a sentence that is consistent with the protection of the community, the gravity of the offenses, the impact on all of the victims, Mackrides’ history of violence, and his lack of being amendable to treatment and rehabilitation.

“This episode and the defendant’s past also demonstrate the true danger this defendant poses to the community going forward. Fortunately, all of the victims walked away from the scene that day, and none of them suffered serious bodily injury. The next time, the community might not be as lucky,” Beck added.

Beck argued Mackrides has previous arrests or convictions for crimes including, simple assault and terroristic threats and that he violated his supervision in the past.

“Anytime throughout his life when he was released from placement or incarceration, he immediately came back like a boomerang. This is a defendant who has shown time and time again that he is not amendable to supervision or rehabilitation,” Beck wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

With the verdict, the judge determined Mackrides completed one carjacking and attempted to carjack four other drivers all the while endangering the lives of the occupants of the vehicles.

Mackrides did not testify during the trial. But defense lawyer Denise Marone suggested the events unfolded so quickly during chaotic situations to the point the victims could not have definitively identified Mackrides as the attacker.

However, the victims who testified during the trial did identify Mackrides, who had numerous tattoos on his face and neck, as the man who accosted them in their vehicles.

The crime spree unfolded about 7:30 p.m. when Mackrides approached a woman standing outside a residence along Blue Bell Springs Drive and as he asked her for the time grabbed her keys and entered her vehicle, according to the criminal complaint filed by Whitpain Township police officers Jonathan Gallagher and Bradly Potter.

The victim and her boyfriend attempted to stop Mackrides as he drove away, chasing the vehicle and at times hanging on, but were thwarted as Mackrides continued on with “erratic swerving,” police alleged.

During his getaway,

Mackrides struck a curb and the Ford Focus eventually became disabled at Skippack Pike and DeKalb Pike and Mackrides abandoned the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Police said Mackrides then approached a Mitsubishi

Outlander vehicle, occupied by a woman and her teenage son, which was stopped at a red traffic signal at the intersection.

“The defendant opened the driver’s side door and told (the woman), ‘I need this car, get out!’” Gallagher and Potter alleged, adding

Mackrides forcibly tried to remove the woman from the vehicle but she drove off, dragging Mackrides a short distance before he broke free.

Mackrides then ran toward a parking lot shared by a CVS and a Wawa and

attempted to carjack a man and a woman who were in a Subaru Forester vehicle. Mackrides opened the driver’s side door and grabbed the man around his neck and attempted to “rip” him from the vehicle, police said.

“He pulled the door open and reached in. He grabbed me around the neck. He’s pulling. I went into defensive mode. I was

trying to protect my wife,” the man said during dramatic trial testimony. “He began to struggle more. My wife was screaming.”

“There was a moment of shock where you don’t understand what’s going on. I was terrified,” the man’s wife testified.

The man told his wife to run into the CVS to call for help and then he began to drive the vehicle in an attempt to break free from Mackrides’ grip, who was still hanging onto his neck, according to testimony.

“I pulled it into gear and into drive and hit the gas,” the man testified.

Mackrides eventually fell out of the Subaru Forester and then ran toward a man who was entering a Mazda vehicle parked outside the Wawa and violently shoved the man out of the way and got into the driver’s seat.

“I asked him to remove himself from the automobile. He was attempting to start the car,” the victim testified, describing a tugof-war scenario with the driver’s side door.