NORRISTOWN — A former Skippack Township man is headed to jail after Lower Providence Township police found him illegally carrying firearms during a traffic investigation.

Timothy Louis O’Neill, 46, formerly of the 3500 block of Skippack Pike, most recently of Philadelphia, was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court to 9 to 23 months in the county jail after pleading guilty to one count of felony carrying a firearm without a license in connection with a November 2023 incident in Lower Providence.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein also ordered O’Neill to complete 12 months of probation consecutive to parole, meaning O’Neill will be under court supervision for about three years. O’Neill is eligible for the prison work release program.

The judge ordered O’Neill to retain the firearms that were seized at the DA’s office for destruction.

An investigation began around 12:19 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2023, when Lower Providence police responded to the area of ​​East Mount Kirk Avenue and Walker Lane for a report of a man slumped behind the wheel of a suspicious vehicle at that location, according to judicial documents.

Arriving officers found O’Neill in the driver’s seat of a Chevrolet Silverado parked at a stop sign at the intersection. Police observed a crack pipe in plain sight in the vehicle’s center console, and O’Neill admitted “to smoking crack last night,” Lower Providence Police Officer Devon Auge said in the criminal complaint.

During the hearing, O’Neill gave police consent to search the vehicle.

The search turned up a crack barrel, a Glock 43 9mm handgun, three magazines, 18 9mm metal jacket pistol rounds and a Diamondback Arms .223 Remington NATO rifle, according to the arrest affidavit.

“Both firearms were located in the back seat of the Chevrolet and within reach of Timothy,” Auge alleged. “Timothy said he didn’t have a driver’s license.”

Two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed against O’Neill in exchange for his guilty plea to the most serious gun charge.

Originally published: November 2, 2024 at 7:30 am EDT