Man admits to raping woman in park
LOWER PROVIDENCE >> A West Norriton man admitted to raping a woman at gunpoint in Norristown Farm Park and now he awaits his fate from a judge.
Mason Alexander Hall, 21, of the 2000 block of Palmer Road, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday to charges of rape, possession of an instrument of crime, possession of a firearm by a minor, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the Aug. 1, 2017, sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman at the park in West Norriton.
Hall was 17 at the time of the assault.
The guilty plea hearing was held at the county jail in Lower Providence where Hall will remain without bail pending his sentencing hearing, which Judge Thomas C. Branca scheduled for Sept. 27.
Hall, wearing a black face covering to adhere to the jail’s COVID-19 mitigation measures, showed no emotion during the hearing and told the judge his guilty plea was made knowingly and voluntarily.
The open guilty plea means Hall, who was represented by defense lawyer Allan L. Sodomsky, has no deals with prosecutors regarding the eventual sentence.
Hall faces a possible maximum sentence of 22 to 44 years in prison on the charges.
“We will be seeking deadly weapon enhancement range sentences and consecutive sentences on each of the counts,” Assistant District
Attorney Brianna Ringwood notified the judge.
When prosecutors argue for a deadly weapon enhancement it can allow for additional prison time over and above standard range sentencing guidelines. But Judge Branca will have the sole discretion in fashioning the sentence.
Prior to sentencing, the judge ordered that Hall undergo a psychosexual evaluation. Hall likely will be required to complete a sexual offender treatment program as part of his sentence.
The investigation began about 10:50 a.m. Aug. 1, 2017, when the victim, “crying and hysterical,” called 911 to report she had been raped at gunpoint by an unknown male as she was walking along Stony Creek Road between Upper and Lower Farm Park roads in the West Norriton section of the park, according to a criminal complaint.
“The suspect grabbed the victim from behind by placing his left arm around her neck. The suspect then placed a semiautomatic handgun to her right temple and told her to keep walking or he would shoot her,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The woman offered the suspect money and keys to her car but the attacker led her to a secluded pasture where the sexual assault occurred, according to previous testimony.
Initially, investigators canvassed the park, used a tracking dog, scoured surveillance video from the area and submitted recovered DNA to law enforcement databases containing information about known sex offenders. But none resulted in a match.
Authorities also offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and received some tips but they did not lead to an arrest.
In January 2018, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced that the alleged perpetrator’s DNA was submitted to Parabon NanoLabs Inc., of Reston, Va., for “phenotyping analysis,” which allowed authorities to produce a DNA-generated composite illustration, a scientific appropriation of the suspect’s likely appearance. Steele called it “a high-tech police artist’s sketch.”
Authorities then used cutting-edge genetic genealogy research, “familial DNA or partial matches,” to identify living or deceased distant relatives of the unidentified perpetrator.
Detectives interviewed a number of those individuals and worked their way closer to the perpetrator, Steele said, adding two local suspects were developed, including Hall, who fit the general physical description provided by the victim.
During the investigation, detectives also learned Hall was involved in an unrelated Sept. 23, 2017, incident in Norristown during which officers recovered a bloody hammer that Hall allegedly admitted to using to break headlamps of a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Walter Kerr.
On Sept 27, county detectives retrieved the bloody hammer from Norristown police and submitted it for DNA testing. The DNA profile was compared to the DNA profile of the perpetrator of the sexual assault, and it led to Hall as the attacker, according to court papers.