Crime & Safety
Bucks Man Who Pistol-Whipped and Robbed Elderly Couple Sentenced To Prison: DA
William Cottrell, 30, ambushed and pistol-whipped the elderly Bristol Township man before robbing him and his wife at gunpoint, DA says.
BENSALEM, PA --A Bensalem man who ambushed and pistol-whipped an elderly man before robbing him and his wife at gunpoint in their Bristol Township home has been sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison, the Bucks County District Attorney said.
William Cottrell, 30, of Bensalem, was found guilty of first-degree felony burglary, two counts each of first- and second-degree felony robbery, one count of aggravated assault and one count of simple assault.
The verdict was returned by a jury at the end of the three-day trial in May.
“It’s hard to exaggerate” the fear and trauma of being robbed at gunpoint in one’s own home, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees argued in court, according to the DA's office. “There are few offenses that carry as great of a psychological burden” for the victims, he said.
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According to authorities, in June 2012, Cottrell "accosted" 70-year-old Fox McClure as he returned home at approximately 2 a.m. He forced Mr. McClure into the house, struck him twice in the head with the butt of a handgun, and robbed him of about $200, information from the District Attorney's office said.
Wearing a dark cap, a hooded sweatshirt and a black bandana over his face, he forced McClure into a bedroom, where he demanded that his 65-year-old wife, who was in her nightgown a the time, remove money from a safe.
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"Mrs. McClure, dressed in a nightgown, gave Cottrell a bag of old, valuable coins from the safe. Cottrell then pointed his semi-automatic handgun at her face and demanded more money," according to the District Attorney's office. McClure told him there was no more money and Cottrell fled on foot.
The couple notified police.
A subsequent investigation led authorities to Cottrell, who has prior convictions on felony drug charges.
“I’m sorry for what happened to the McClure family, and for what they went through,” Cottrell said in court. “I know I’m facing a lot of time, but I just don’t know what to say right now.”
Patch file photo.
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