NORRISTOWN — A Trappe man was sent to prison after he was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Route 422 in Lower Pottsgrove during which he illegally possessed a gun and marijuana and tried to get the second driver to do him a favor and “get rid of” a backpack containing the gun and drugs before police arrived.
Jon Welch Suddith, 41, of the unit block of Elio Circle, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 3½ to 20 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of person not to possess a firearm, possession of marijuana, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and a speeding violation in connection with the April 30, 2023, incident on Route 422 in Lower Pottsgrove.
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman recommended that Suddith be evaluated for substance abuse disorder while serving his sentence.
Suddith will receive credit for the time he has been in jail since May 1, 2023, while awaiting court action.
The investigation began about 11:24 a.m. April 30 when Lower Pottsgrove police responded to reports of a two-vehicle crash on westbound Route 422 during a heavy rainfall.
Arriving officers found Suddith standing outside his Chevrolet Cruze on the shoulder of the roadway. The male driver of the second vehicle told police that his vehicle was struck by Suddith’s vehicle and both vehicles came to rest on the shoulder of the highway, according to court documents.
The second driver told police that after the crash he approached Suddith’s vehicle and that Suddith told him he did not have a license and asked him not to call the police, according to court documents. When the second driver told Suddith that several other bystanders had already called police, “Suddith asked him to do him a favor,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Pottsgrove Police Officer Christopher Dipiano.
The second driver stated Suddith grabbed a small green backpack and tried to hand it to him “and asked him to get rid of it,” according to the criminal complaint. The second driver refused and walked away.
When police searched the immediate area they found a green backpack, with a smaller backpack attached to it, on the shoulder of the roadway a few feet from Suddith’s vehicle.
“The backpack was only an arm’s length away from Suddith’s driver’s door. The backpack was found underneath some brush,” Dipiano said.
Inside the larger backpack police found a Glock 17 9mm semiautomatic handgun and three magazines, two of which contained hollow point 9mm ammunition and the third contained one full metal jacket 9mm round and one hollow point 9mm round, according to the criminal complaint.
Police also found a digital scale commonly used to weigh narcotics, drug packaging materials and a plastic bag containing about 244.6 grams of marijuana inside the backpack, according to court documents.
The second driver positively identified the backpack as the one that Suddith tried to give to him to get rid of, police said. Suddith also admitted that the bag and the items inside belonged to him.
With the charges, police alleged Suddith has a prior criminal history that prohibited him from possessing a firearm. Suddith also was not eligible for a valid license to carry a concealed weapon, police alleged.
Other charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under suspension were dismissed against Suddith at time of sentencing in exchange for his guilty plea to the more serious charges.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Joseph Waeltz Jr. handled the case. Defense lawyer Andrew Joseph Levin represented Suddith during the court proceedings.
