Quentin Branch Of Pottstown Is Heading To Prison For Admitting To Violently Raping Woman

POTTSTOWN, PA — A borough man who admitted to a violent knifepoint rape of a woman during a 2016 home invasion is heading to state prison.

Quentin Branch, 53, of the 600 block of Walnut Street in Pottstown, was recently sentenced to potentially decades in a state correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to rape by forcible compulsion, burglary and possessing an instrument of crime, according to court records and media reports.

Court records show that the guilty pleas were made on Nov. 9 before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Steven T. O'Neill.

The rape and burglary charges are both first-class felonies while the possessing an instrument of crime charge is a first-class misdemeanor.

The rape charge came with a sentencing range of 10 to 20 years behind bars, while the burglary charge had a minimum of five, and maximum of 10 years in prison. The possessing an instrument of crime count had a potential prison sentence of up to five years, according to court records.

The Pottstown Mercury newspaper reported that Judge O'Neill ended up sentencing Branch to between 15 to 30 years total for all counts.

Records show that Branch also has to undergo a five-year period of probation upon his release from state prison. He also faces a lifetime reporting requirement to comply with Pennsylvania's Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

The Mercury reported that Branch was arrested back in the summer of 2016 after Pottstown police received a report of a home invasion rape on East Fifth Street in the borough.

The victim reportedly awoke to find Branch standing beside her bed holding a sharp instrument and asking for money and threatening to harm her daughter if she didn't comply, according to the newspaper's account.

Branch then forcibly raped the woman.

The paper reported that detectives were able to link Branch to the crime through DNA evidence.

Court records show that prosecutors originally lodged a total of 24 criminal counts against Branch but that the other charges were subsequently dropped in exchange for the plea deal.