Bridgeport, PA Accused shooter held for trial

OFF THE WIRE
BY: KEITH PHUCAS
Source: timesherald.com
COURTHOUSE — A Bridgeport man was held over for trial on assault charges at a preliminary hearing for allegedly shooting and wounding a 55-year-old Collegeville man in October.

Bridgeport police believe the accused shooter, 28-year-old Jason Spitko, a former Pagan motorcycle club member, shot a current group member outside the defendant’s Rambo Street house on Halloween.

He is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, possessing an instrument of crime and a firearm violation. Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Nathan Schadler is prosecuting the case.

Spitko was reportedly thrown out of the Pagan club a few months before the shooting during a dispute. The man the defendant allegedly wounded had come to the neighborhood with another individual seeking to "talk" to Spitko, according to Bridgeport police.

Spitko, who has been held at Montgomery County Prison for the past three weeks on $50,000 bail, appeared before District Justice James P. Gallagher in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Monday with his defense attorney Francis Recchuiti. For security reasons, the hearing was held in the courthouse rather than Gallagher’s district court in Bridgeport.

After receiving a report of a shots fired around At 5:48 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31, Bridgeport police Sgt. John Cane went to the 400 block of East Rambo Street and found two men in the street.

"One of them was lying on the ground bleeding from his right thigh," Cane testified.

When the officer questioned the injured man, who was conscious, he said he had been shot and pointed out the suspect’s nearby Rambo Street residence.

Soon after, officers went to Spitko’s house and arrested him. A .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver was found on the floor near the front door, according to the criminal complaint. The loaded handgun contained four bullets; one round had been fired.

At the police station, Spitko waived his Miranda rights and gave Cane a signed statement admitting to taking the weapon outside and shooting, "because he was in fear of (the two men) harming him." Continued...

The injured man was taken by ambulance to Paoli Memorial Hospital for treatment and later released.

During cross examination, Recchuiti challenged Cane’s testimony, and Schadler objected on relevancy grounds to more than a dozen questions the defense lawyer posed to the witness.

Montgomery County Detective Michael Altieri testified that he determined Spitko’s firearm permit has expired more than two years ago.

Recchuiti even questioned the more serious assault charge given that the victim had been released from the hospital.

"I’m not sure we have an aggravated assault charge in this case," he said. He asked whether the shooting could have been accidental.

Recchuiti requested a reduction in the defendant’s bail to $30,000, which Schadler vigorously argued against suggesting Spitko was a flight risk, and considering the violent act, the current amount was appropriate.

"The safety of the community, violence in the streets, and the nature of the crime should cry out for (retaining) the original bail," the prosecutor said.

Gallagher denied the request to lower the bail. The judge dismissed the charge of carrying the gun on an expired license.

An arraignment is scheduled at the courthouse on Jan. 5 at 9:30 a.m.