Man sentenced for string of Bucks County burglaries, carjackings where he threatened victims with a syringe
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 41-year-old man convicted of two burglaries and two carjackings in Bucks County, who threatened to inject victims with a syringe, was sentenced on Monday to 11-25 years in state prison, the Bucks County DA's Office said.
Kevin O'Connell, 41, was also ordered to have no contact with the victims, endure a drug and alcohol evaluation and additionally, pay the victims a restitution of more than $30,000, the DA's Office said.
According to the DA's Office, O'Connell entered a plea of no contest on Monday to two counts each of robbery of a motor vehicle, robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and terroristic threats, three counts of simple assault and one count each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.
O'Connell was arrested in August 2022 in Philadelphia after robbing and carjacking an 83-year-old woman at 200 Commerce Circle in Bristol, the DA's Office said in a news release.
The 83-year-old woman told police that a man, later identified as O'Connell, came up to her car window after she left a doctor's appointment and asked for a dollar to buy a drink. The woman said, 'no' and O'Connell then threatened to inject her with a syringe, stole her car keys and drove off, knocking her to the ground in the process.
While the woman recovered in the hospital from injuries, Philadelphia police tracked O'Connell down the next morning driving her stolen car.
"This case is a direct result of excellent police work and cooperation between the Philadelphia Police Department, the detectives here in Bristol Borough and Bristol Township. I'm very glad we got that this individual off the streets as quick as we did," a police official told CBS News Philadelphia in August 2022.
Once in custody, detectives said DNA evidence linked O'Connell to another carjacking in March 2022 using the same method. It happened about a mile away, at the McDonald's on Bristol Pike.
They said in that case, O'Connell told a woman he was a heroin addict, had a needle and that she needed to get out of the car.
The Common Pleas judge who sentenced O'Connell said the 41-year-old stole these victims' sense of safety.
"You didn't just steal their possessions, in some way, you stole their lives," he said on Monday.
Also, O'Connell pled guilty on Monday to burglary and related charges for a May 2022 burglary where he stole $5,000 in tools and other items from a residence's garage on Stonybrook Drive in Tullytown.
This past April, the 41-year-old pled guilty to a March 2022 burglary where he broke into a home on Newport Road in Bristol and stole $20,000 from a safe and other electronic devices, the DA's Office said.