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NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man who represented himself at trial was convicted by a Montgomery County jury of charges he attempted to kidnap and rob a former Lower Merion woman, accosting her as she arrived home at her township apartment.

Kent William Powe, 60, of the 2000 block of South Redfield Street, showed no visible reaction when a jury convicted him of charges of attempted kidnapping, robbery, possession of a prohibited firearm, false imprisonment and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the Nov. 4, 2020, incident at the Royal Athena Apartments complex in Lower Merion.

The jury deliberated just over three hours before announcing the verdict after hearing testimony at a three-day trial.

Judge Risa Vetri Ferman, who presided over the trial, revoked Powe’s bail and he will remain in the county jail to await sentencing. The judge deferred sentencing so that court officials can prepare a background investigation report about Powe.

Powe faces a possible maximum sentence of 36 to 72 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.

Powe did not comment about the verdict as he was escorted from the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies.

Powe represented himself during the trial with defense lawyer Benjamin Cooper acting as stand-by counsel.

Prosecutors Scott Frank Frame and Karla Pisarcik called the verdict “fair and just.”

“I really feel that the jury heard us and they saw the victim and after hearing all the evidence they made the right decision and he’s not going to be able to do this to anybody in the future,” Frame reacted after the verdict.

Frame vowed to seek a lengthy prison term against Powe.

“I think the jury could see through some of the things the defendant was saying and I’m really happy that the jury was able to see what the intent was of this very violent individual that we were able to get off the streets,” Pisarcik added.

During the trial, Frame and Pisarcik argued Powe was lying in wait, “stalking his prey,” and when he found the victim he pounced.

The investigation began Nov. 4, 2020, when Lower Merion police responded to the apartment complex in the 600 block of Righters Ferry Road for a report of a robbery. A female resident told police she was approached in an elevator by a male with a handgun about 6:55 p.m. as she arrived home and was headed to her apartment, according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective Edward Sarama.

The victim told detectives the man followed her into an elevator, stood behind her and then pressed an object against the left side of her back and uttered, “you know what this is,” according to the arrest affidavit.

“(The victim) turned around and saw that the male was pointing a dark gray handgun at her,” Sarama wrote in the arrest document. “She stated that at the time of the incident she felt as though she was being robbed. I asked (the woman) if she felt as though she was in danger of serious bodily harm and she stated, ‘yes, definitely.’”

When the elevator doors opened the male ordered the woman out of the elevator but she refused. When the male saw another female standing outside the elevator he fled from the building, according to court papers.

Detectives obtained video surveillance footage that showed the suspect in the elevator lobby “putting on gloves and holding a roll of what appears to be clear packing tape,” shortly before he encountered the victim, according to court papers.

Using the video surveillance footage detectives traced the male suspect to a Nissan Altima vehicle seen leaving the parking lot of the complex after the incident and subsequently traced that vehicle, which had an obscured license plate but distinct features such as aftermarket wheels and trunk mounted spoiler, to Powe.

The victim, prosecutors said, has since moved out of country.

“She literally had to flee the country to feel safe. Seeing her face after the verdict really tells the whole story because there was relief on her face, knowing that the jury believed her and believed the fear she was in,” Pisarcik said. “I think the reality of what could have happened to her really sunk in during this trial. It was a lot for her.”

During the investigation, detectives also became aware of two similar alleged incidents that occurred at an apartment complex in mid-November in Cherry Hill, N.J., and involved a similar vehicle with an obscured license plate and a similarly described male, according to court papers.

“In essence he’s a serial kidnapper. He got more brazen with each attack,” Frame alleged.

The alleged victims in the subsequent New Jersey incidents testified at the Montgomery County trial as prosecutors sought to show Powe’s intent or so-called “common plan, scheme or design.”

During an alleged Nov. 14 incident, a woman told police she was walking to her residence and noticed a man standing near a black sedan with the trunk open. As the woman passed the man she said she was “grabbed around her upper body and felt pain in the back of her head” before her attacker fled.

During a Nov. 20 incident, another woman reported she was followed by a male as she entered an elevator at her residence and said the male pulled out a black handgun, pointed it at her and said, “I will not hurt you, but if you scream I will kill you,” according to court documents.

The man, allegedly Powe, took the woman’s purse and shopping bag and escorted her from the elevator to a parked vehicle in a garage and ordered the woman to climb into the vehicle’s trunk, according to court papers. As the victim attempted to flee, the man struck her in the forehead with the firearm which caused her to fall and he then fled the scene, authorities alleged.

Cooper previously challenged the admissibility of the additional evidence but a judge ruled in favor of prosecutors and allowed the testimony from the two victims regarding the alleged New Jersey incidents.

“Evidence of other crimes is admissible when it tends to prove motive, intent, absence of mistake or accident, identity, common scheme, plan or design, or where such evidence forms a natural development of the facts at issue,” Frame wrote in a so-called “prior bad acts” motion, arguing Powe’s alleged subsequent “attempted abductions are admissible under the common plan, scheme or design and intent” exceptions allowable under the law.

Court documents indicate that during a search of Powe’s home, authorities seized clothing matching the description of the suspect provided by the Lower Merion victim, a roll of clear plastic tape and gloves consistent with those possessed by the suspect in the Lower Merion incident and a so-called “ghost gun.” A ghost gun is a gun that is assembled outside of a factory with various parts so there is no serial number present, authorities explained.

When he was questioned by Lower Merion detectives, Powe denied assaulting the township woman during the Nov. 4 incident. Powe also denied being in New Jersey on Nov. 14 and Nov. 20, according to court papers.

However, prosecutors presented electronics data that placed Powe’s cellphone in the general vicinity of the incidents during the relevant timeframes. Frame characterized the detectives’ work as “excellent.”

Lower Merion detectives were assisted in the investigation by authorities from Cherry Hill, N.J., and Philadelphia.

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