Crime & Safety

Report: Man Avoids Prison for 2011 Armed Standoff

Jeffrey Stroman was armed, camouflaged and under the influence of meth when Willistown Police captured him in September 2011, according to the Daily Local News.

A 39-year-old man will not go to prison after pleading guilty to charges resulting from an armed standoff with Willistown Police in 2011, according to the Daily Local News.

On Sept. 6, 2011, Jeffrey Stroman was under the influence of methamphetamine and believed neighbors and a mob-connected restaurateur were out to get him, according to the Daily Local article:  

Deciding to get the jump on them, Stroman first grabbed a 9mm handgun he owned and hid outside in the rain at the complex on West Chester Pike near the Ridley Creek State Park, He watched people “combing the woods around my apartment complex military style,” he later told a psychologist. “I assumed they’d either put a bullet in my head or kidnap me.”
After several hours, Stroman ran to the nearby Army Reserve Center where he climbed a fence and donned a camouflage outfit he found in a duffle bag there. Armed now with a 22-caliber rifle, he fired as many as 60 rounds into the air, hoping, he said, to attract police attention so that he would be safe from those who were after him.

During sentencing, Common Pleas Court Judge Jacqueline C. Cody told Stroman he cannot be around guns.

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After the 2011 incident, Malvern Patch reported that Stroman had multiple guns stashed throughout the area:

After taking Stroman into custody at gunpoint, police say they found more weapons in and around his apartment, including:
  • .22 caliber carbine rifle, modified to conceal or silence the discharge
  • .22 caliber rifle in basement
  • 12-gauge shotgun in pump house
  • AK-47 assault rifle hidden inside a speaker

Willistown Police Officer William Murrin, Officer Zachary Bullock and Sgt. Michael Lapira received letters of commendation for their work on the case. 

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Stroman was involved in a similar incident in 2010, when a regional S.W.A.T. team took him into custody.

Though he will not go to prison, he will be under court supervision until 2025, according to the Daily Local reporting.


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