CLEARFIELD – A Curwensville man charged with felony strangulation pleaded guilty to lesser charges Friday during a special session of sentencing court.
Police say Jacob Paul Montgomery, 39, assaulted the woman by pushing her against a wall, strangling her and pushing her down a staircase on Nov. 25.
He was sentenced by Judge Paul E. Cherry to 178 days or time served to one year in the county jail with 18 months concurrent probation for misdemeanor strangulation.
He must complete anger management counseling, and was warned not to have any contact with her. It was noted that this is a case of domestic violence.
Prior to sentencing, Cherry stated that he said he would accept the plea, only if the victim accepted it. She was present in the courtroom and stated her agreement of the lesser charge and sentence to resolve this case.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an argument began about dishes needing cleaned around 1:10 a.m.
The victim told police after she asked him to stop being disrespectful to her, he pushed her out of the bedroom and chased her down the steps of the home. Once they were downstairs, he grabbed her around the neck and “choked her until she passed out,” according to the criminal complaint.
When she woke up, she noticed she had a chipped tooth. Montgomery started yelling at her to get out of the house. She told him she would leave, after she grabbed some of her things.
While she was upstairs gathering her items, he “slammed her against a dresser located in the hallway at the top of the steps approximately five times before pushing her down the stairs.”
After she got into the dining room, she reportedly passed out again and was awakened by him shaking her and screaming in her face.
She told police he dragged her out of the house by her knee and locked her outside. But when he saw her with a cell phone, he came back outside and chased her to the side of the house where he threw things at her and slammed her on the ground until he got the phone, according to police. He then left the scene.