CLEARFIELD – A DuBois man has pleaded guilty to threatening police and causing a four-hour stand-off.
Gregg Matthew Luttman, 32, pleaded guilty before Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to both aggravated assault and terroristic threats. He will serve six months to one year in jail and two years consecutive probation.
Luttman’s attorney commented that this was a “bad situation” and explained that Luttman had recently been released from a psychiatric facility when the incident occurred.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Luttman’s brother called police around 10 a.m. on July 10 after Luttman made some troubling statements. He said he needed either a gun or heroin.
Officers spoke to Luttman outside the residence, where he swung a 15-inch pry bar back and forth toward the officers in a threatening manner. He then struck a bell on the porch that flew toward the officers.
He was screaming “I’m going to make you shoot me” and “come get me.”
There were concerns that there was a rifle in the home that could be accessible by Luttman.
When he was contacted by phone and asked to come out of the residence, he refused and stated that the police would have to come in and shoot him.
A containment perimeter was established around the home. Police also evacuated nearby residences and the street was shut down. Additional police officers and an emergency response team were requested, as well as fire and emergency personnel were put on standby status.
During this period, Luttman made several posts to his Facebook page. At 11:10 a.m., he wrote “death by cops will be fun. I always wanted it to be heroin but that would be too easy.” He threatened to kill the cops with his bare hands at one point and at another said he was watching the movie “Pineapple Express.”
At 12:19 p.m., he posted “I’m dying today. I regret nothing but being a nice person” and a few minutes later “Death by cops. They are surrounding my house and I didn’t do nothing illegal.” At 12:54 p.m., he posted “I didn’t know trashing your own house was illegal these days.”
A few videos of the police vehicles outside the home were also posted to Facebook. In one he told the officers they were trespassing. When they said they were there to help, he didn’t seem to know what help he needed. He also repeatedly asked for cigarettes.
An involuntary emergency examination and treatment warrant was issued for Luttman. Luttman had text-messaged his brother asking for a cousin to bring him a shotgun. He said that he could not cut or hang himself so he wanted the cops to shoot him. He said he was going to destroy the house and burn it down.
At 2:43 p.m., police entered the residence and Luttman was taken into custody without incident.
Also, Luttman pleaded guilty to unsworn falsification to authorities in an unrelated case. For this he was given one year concurrent probation and was fined $1,000 plus costs.
