A Hatfield Township man accused of kidnapping a woman on her way home from work then repeatedly assaulting her is headed to state prison as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Anthony Manero, 19, has been sentenced to three to six years in prison after pleading guilty to felony counts of strangulation and aggravated assault, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. Additional charges of kidnapping, terroristic threats, simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, and possessing an instrument of crime were dismissed as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Manero will serve an additional five years’ probation upon his release, court records show.
The charges stem from an incident that occurred in Telford Borough in July 2022. The victim was known to Manero, however this news organization is withholding the extent of their relationship and any details that could be used to establish her identity.
Investigators from the Telford Borough Police Department first met with the victim on July 21, 2022, at Grand View Hospital, where she was receiving treatment for injuries that Manero had inflicted. The victim told police that Manero had offered to pick her up from work a few days prior, but when she ran late, they began to argue via text message, and she instead decided to walk home.
As the victim walked home, Manero pulled up alongside her in his truck, grabbed the victim by her hair, pushed her inside of the truck and began punching her repeatedly, according to charging documents. He then took out a knife and threatened to kill the victim, before resuming the assault and smashing the victim’s head into the dashboard multiple times.
The victim told police she stayed in the fetal position in the vehicle as it drove away from Telford Borough.
Police said Manero drove the victim to his apartment at Hatfield Village, where he forced her inside and continued the assault. The victim told police she repeatedly screamed for help, but that only caused Manero to hit her harder, the report states.
The victim said she eventually passed out on Manero’s couch, and upon waking the next morning, Manero dropped her off at work, where she immediately reported the assault, according to the complaint.
She was then taken to Grand View Hospital for treatment. Police said photos of the victim’s injuries are consistent with her account of the assault.
Investigators said they spoke with Manero later that day at his place of employment, at which time Manero confirmed he knew the victim, but declined to answer multiple questions about having been in contact with her as well as his whereabouts on the day of the incident. Police seized Manero’s phone pending a search warrant, and when asked if the phone had been in Telford on the day of the alleged assault, Manero responded “it may have been,” according to the complaint.
After executing the search warrant, police said they recovered a text message from Manero to another person that indicated he had committed a crime and he was intending to flee. According to the criminal complaint, the text reads, verbatim:
“Be safe ******. Imma be going away. Good luck. Some nasty s**t popped off. Can’t explain the situation…multiple felonies, attempted homicide, etc. I f----d up. 10+ years if they catch me.”
Charges were officially filed on July 29, 2022, and Manero was arraigned the following day by Magisterial District Judge Maureen Coggins, who set bail at $150,000 cash.
He has remained in custody since that time and will receive credit for time served, court records show.
At the time of the incident in Telford, Manero was out on $5,000 unsecured bail on a felony arrest in Hatfield Township dating back to Feb. 27, 2022, according to court records. Details of that arrest aren’t immediately available, however court records show Manero was charged with felony strangulation along with a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and a summary count of harassment.
Manero pleaded guilty to the strangulation charge in that case, with the other two charges being dismissed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to the district attorney’s office. The sentence from that case was combined with the sentence from Manero’s arrest in Telford.
See also:
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