Man convicted in series of Bucks County burglaries and carjackings in which he threatened victims with syringe

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A 41-year-old man convicted of two burglaries and two carjackings in Bucks County, which threatened to inject the victims with a syringe, was sentenced Monday to 11-25 years in state prison, the Bucks County Prosecutor's Office said.

Kevin O'Connell, 41, was also ordered to have no contact with the victims, undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and, in addition, pay the victims restitution in excess of 30 000 dollars, the prosecutor's office said.

According to the prosecutor's office, O'Connell pleaded no contest Monday to two counts each of theft of a motor vehicle, grand larceny, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and making terroristic threats, three counts of simple assault and one count each for aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.

O'Connell was arrested in August 2022 in Philadelphia after stealing and carjacking a car from an 83-year-old woman at 200 Commerce Circle in Bristol, the district attorney's office said in a news release.

The 83-year-old woman told police a man, later identified as O'Connell, approached her car window after leaving a doctor's appointment and asked her for a dollar to buy a drink. The woman said “no” and O'Connell then threatened to inject her with a syringe, stole her car keys and drove off, knocking her to the ground in the process.

While the woman was recovering from her injuries in the hospital, Philadelphia police found O'Connell the next morning driving her stolen car.

“This case is a direct result of excellent police work and cooperation between the Philadelphia Police Department, Bristol Borough and Bristol Township detectives. I am very pleased that we brought out this individual off the street as quickly as we did,” he said. ” a police official told CBS News Philadelphia in August 2022.

Once in custody, detectives said DNA evidence linked O'Connell to another carjacking in March 2022 using the same method. It happened about a mile away, at the McDonald's on Bristol Pike.

They said in that case, O'Connell told a woman he was a heroin addict, that he had a needle and that she needed to get out of the car.

The common pleas judge who sentenced O'Connell said the 41-year-old stole those victims' sense of security.

“You didn’t just steal their property, in a way, you stole their lives,” he said Monday.

Additionally, O'Connell pleaded guilty Monday to burglary and related charges for a May 2022 burglary in which he stole $5,000 worth of tools and other items from the garage of a residence on Stonybrook Drive to Tullytown.

Last April, the 41-year-old pleaded guilty to a March 2022 burglary in which he broke into a home on Newport Road in Bristol and stole $20,000 from a safe and other electronic devices, the prosecutor's office said.