NORRISTOWN >> A Schuylkill County man is on his way to state prison for domestic violence, strangling a Pottstown woman to the point she believed he was going to “snap her neck.”
Raymond Ostrowski Jr., 56, of the 100 block of North State Road, Branchdale, Schuylkill County, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 14-to-28-months in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of strangulation, unlawful restraint and stalking in connection with incidents that occurred between February and March of 2017. Judge Todd D. Eisenberg also ordered Ostrowski to undergo drug, alcohol and psychosexual evaluations and to comply with all recommendations for treatment.
Ostrowski also will have to complete about five years’ probation after he’s paroled from prison. The judge ordered Ostrowski to have no contact with the victim during the course of his supervision.
An investigation began about 9 p.m. Feb. 17 when Pottstown police were dispatched to a residence in the 300 block of State Street for a report of a domestic assault. Arriving police observed Ostrowski leaving the residence in an apparent hurry and they detained him while they spoke with the victim, “who appeared to be very upset,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Police Officer Eric Weber.
Police observed redness around the neck of the victim who stated she had had a relationship with Ostrowski and found him at her home when she arrived home from work. Once inside the residence Ostrowski pushed the victim to the floor and when she threatened to call police Ostrowski took her cellphone, police alleged.
During an assault, Ostrowski placed his forearm against the woman’s throat and later pushed her up against a wall with his hand against her throat, according to the arrest affidavit. Ostrowski allegedly told the woman she “was going to shut up and start listening” to him.
“The victim stated that she thought the defendant was going to ‘snap her neck’ and that she was going to die,” Weber alleged in the arrest affidavit. “The victim began to cry and the defendant released his grip. The defendant had also pushed her on the bed and grabbed her by the neck.”
The woman eventually was able to make her way to the basement and ran from the residence.
“The victim ran barefoot to the neighbor’s residence to call police approximately two hours after the incident began,” Weber alleged.
Court documents indicate the woman subsequently obtained a protection from abuse order that barred Ostrowski from having contact with her. But police learned that between March 13 and March 20 Ostrowski sent the woman 19 emails and two text messages and also sent a text message to a relative of the victim, according to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Police Officer Andrew Licwinko.
In the email messages Ostrowski told the woman to stop blocking the phone numbers from which he was trying to communicate with her, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police alleged Ostrowski also showed up at the woman’s residence on one occasion.
