NORRISTOWN — A Norristown man is on his way to prison after he admitted to illegally possessing a firearm with which police said he terrorized neighbors during a disturbance outside his residence.
Charles Scott, 48, of the 800 block of Arch Street, was sentenced this week in Montgomery County Court to 4 to 8 years in a state correctional institution on charges of person not to possess a firearm and terroristic threats in connection with a November 2023 incident in the borough. Scott pleaded guilty to the charges in July.
The sentence was imposed by Judge Thomas M. DelRicci who also ordered Scott to have no contact with the three neighbors he terrorized during the incident. Scott had to forfeit his firearm, a .40-caliber handgun, to the county district attorney’s office for destruction.
Prosecutors sought a sentence of up to 5 to 10 years in prison for Scott.
The investigation began about 10:30 a.m. Nov. 16, 2023, when Norristown police were dispatched to the area of Scott’s residence for a report of an armed subject.
“There were several callers who were both staff and residents of the apartment complex reporting a male with a gun threatening people,” Norristown Police Officer Ashley Gaeta alleged in the criminal complaint, adding arriving officers observed Scott standing in a parking lot.
Witnesses reported that Scott had an argument with his girlfriend inside their apartment “and at some point he walked outside where the neighbors were and began yelling and threatening to shoot them all,” according to the arrest affidavit.
After briefly engaging in a verbal altercation with the neighbors, Scott went back inside his apartment and returned moments later while concealing a gun, police alleged.
“It was reported that Scott pulled the firearm from his pocket and chambered a round before putting it to his side/behind his leg and moving towards the neighbors stating he was going to shoot them,” Gaeta alleged.
Three neighbors reported seeing the firearm, watching Scott chamber a round and hold it next to him “as he approached them in an aggressive manner,” police alleged.
“All three victims told police they were in fear for their safety and felt that Scott would shoot them,” Gaeta alleged.
During an interview by police, Scott admitted to having a firearm and that he did come outside with it on his person. Scott alerted police to where he placed the firearm inside his residence and police retrieved a Glock 23 .40-caliber weapon exactly where he advised he placed it, according to court papers.
“There was a round in the chamber and 5 rounds inside the magazine. After a closer inspection of the firearm, it was determined that the bottom portion was a ghost gun and the top portion a manufactured after-market piece that was purchased separately and later assembled,” Gaeta alleged.
With the charges, prosecutors alleged Scott had a prior criminal history that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.
Other charges of carrying a firearm without a license and possession of an instrument of crime were dismissed against Scott at sentencing time.
