Chesco man gets prison for sexually assaulting child, shooting into her home
Five weeks after he posted bail on the sexual-assault charges, he fired six shots into the victim's home while the child, her 9-year-old sister and their father were inside.
A Chester County man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 7-year-old neighbor and then firing shots into her home while he was out on bail for the crime was sentenced to 8½ to 17 years in prison Monday.
Eighteen months ago, Douglas Leonard Kohen, 64, went into a bedroom where the girl was, made her touch his penis, and moved her hand up and down around it, a detective told a judge during a hearing at the Chester County Justice Center in West Chester.
Five weeks after he was freed on $25,000 bail on the sexual-assault charges, Kohen, who lived in a trailer next to the victim's residence in East Caln Township, fired six shots into the home.
The 7-year-old's father grabbed her off the couch as one bullet sailed over her head, and pulled both his daughters to the floor. Bullets went through the window and walls of the family's home and into another residence occupied by five people. No one was injured.
The father said he and his girls were "terrified and terrorized."
"He was a good neighbor at one time, before he molested my daughter," he wrote in a statement to the judge. He said his daughters "are scared he will get out of jail and he will do the same thing all over again."
After the shooting, Kohen drove to West Goshen Township, where his car flipped. Police found him with a gun, six spent shell casings, and 36 more rounds of ammunition.
On Monday, Kohen said he was in an impaired state when he was with the girl, and he apologized to the victim's family.
"I know I have to pay for what I've done," said Kohen, wearing a red sweatshirt, jeans, and shackles.
Kohen pleaded guilty in March to attempted first-degree murder, corruption of minors, indecent assault, indecent exposure, reckless endangerment, aggravated harassment by a prisoner, driving under the influence, and firearms offenses.
He had no previous criminal record. A doctor's psychological evaluation showed Kohen has post-traumatic stress disorder "with bipolar and dissociative features" that at times make him unable to recall events, said Kohen's public defender, James Allen McMullen. Kohen told the doctor he had not been allowed to see his wife while she was hospitalized and he blamed the girl's father, which is why he shot into the home, he said.
Kohen said he wants to "get help and medication" and to rejoin society.
"I see a man who in fact simply lost it," said Chester County Judge Thomas G. Gavin, calling Kohen's crimes "horrible."
In written statements to the court, the victim's parents said their daughters go to therapy, live in constant fear, and see no relief. In a letter to the judge, the victim's sister wrote, "I sometimes worry Doug is going to get out of jail and kill my daddy."
Prosecutor Erin O'Brien had asked for a sentence of 14 to 28 years, but she said after the hearing she was satisfied the judge took all factors into account and called the sentence fair.
Kohen will receive credit for the time he has served.