PA Man Sentenced for Assault and Repo Chase

Upper Merion, PA – November 14, 2022 – A then 31-year-old Johnathan Ortiz had erupted from the house shouting that he’d “Called the bank.” Jumping onto the tow truck bed Ortiz shouted obscenities and threats until the agent released the vehicle from the wheel lift. Still not satisfied, Ortiz drew a gun and a chase ensued. A pit maneuver and eighteen months later, Ortiz has learned the price of his temper tantrum.

In October of 2022, Johnathan Ortiz plead guilty to a felony count of aggravated assault-attempts to cause bodily injury with a deadly weapon. He has been sentenced to 11-and-1/2 months to 23 months in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility despite the tow company, “Giannone Companies Towing’s” desire for state prison time.

Ortiz’s guilty plea was the result of incidents occurring on June 3rd, 2021, at approximately 7:15am, when a still unnamed agent of Giannone Companies Towing made his third attempt to repossess a 2018 Dodge Journey.

According to police reports, Ortiz emerged from the home shouting that he’d “Called the bank.” Ortiz then, allegedly jumped onto the tow truck bed having a complete meltdown until the agent released the vehicle.

According to the arrest affidavit, “As (the victim) drove from the driveway without the vehicle, he saw Ortiz holding what appeared to be a gray colored semiautomatic pistol,”

Upper Merion Police Officer Brendan Dougherty reported, “As (the victim) observed Ortiz with the firearm, he ducked down in the driver’s seat of his tow truck and began to drive away. As (the victim) drove away he did see Ortiz jogging towards him and to his truck while pointing the firearm at him.”

The court papers go on to show that Ortiz ran toward the passenger side of the tow truck shouting, “What’s up now, what’s up now?” as he “smacked the gun against the passenger door window,” according to court papers. As the victim called police, a dispatcher heard the victim shout, “gun, gun, gun.”

“(The victim) drove away but quickly observed Ortiz driving next to him on Matsonford Road in the black colored 2018 Dodge Journey, which is the vehicle that he had just attempted to repossess,” Dougherty reported in his arrest affidavit.

The unnamed victim then drove onto a grassy area near a cemetery where Ortiz allegedly positioned his vehicle in a manner intended to block the tow truck from escaping.

Dougherty’s report stated that “(The victim) reported that he was ‘in fear of my life’ so he rammed the front passenger side of Ortiz’s vehicle in an effort to get away,”.

The repossessor managed to make his way back onto Matsonford Road with Ortiz continuing to “give chase” and attempting to get in front of the tow truck to again block the agents escape, police reported.

The recovery agent admitted that while Ortiz was trying to block his tow truck, he did tap the rear quarter panel of Ortiz’s vehicle (a PIT maneuver), which then allegedly caused Ortiz’s vehicle to spin out of control, according to the arrest report.

The agent then found safety with responding officers on Upper Gulph Road.

According to court documents, during the police investigation, a witness advised police that she had observed the confrontation and witnessed Ortiz remove a gun from his vehicle and chase the victim in the tow truck, barefoot and brandishing a pistol along Gulph Lane.

Detectives later arrived with a search warrant for Ortiz’s home which uncovered a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol, wrapped in a sweatshirt, inside a closet, according to the police report.

Court records indicate that this was not the recovery agents first attempt at recovering this vehicle from Ortiz and that he had tried to repossess Ortiz’s vehicle on two other occasions. Each previous and unsuccessful attempt had allegedly resulted in a confrontation with Ortiz.

The towing company praised the jail sentence for Ortiz, saying members of their industry are attacked far too often when they are simply doing their jobs.

“Far too often we see many members of our industry attacked, stabbed, shot and/or killed for simply doing their job,” the company said in their letter, which was released publicly. “These are not just men and women you may or may not meet in your driveway in the middle of the night. These are real human beings who are brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles and most importantly parents and spouses to their loved ones and most commonly the provider to their household.”

The company added that its agents are continuously training on de-escalation techniques in the event repossessions ever become hostile.

The company said that while it was originally hoping for a state prison sentence for Ortiz, it is “satisfied with the agreement made with prosecutors, and only hope the defendant takes full advantage of the programs provided to him through the county correctional system to become a decent and productive member of society upon his release.”

Ortiz was ordered to report to county prison on December 1st to begin serving his sentence.

Source: Patch.com