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Time served sentence in armed home invasion

A Philadelphia man was released from county detention on time served in Butler County Court on Thursday, after being charged alongside three others with breaking into a home which caused a seven-hour standoff with police.

Michael L. Jackson, 25, was sentenced to time served to 23½ months in the Butler County Prison and released immediately on parole by Judge William Shaffer.

He was also sentenced to 60 months probation and to pay court costs and $27,328.51 in restitution and to have no contact with the victim in the case.

Jackson’s attorney, Public Defender Joseph Smith, said his client plans to return to Philadelphia upon release, as he has pending court proceedings there.

Jackson previously pleaded guilty to felony criminal trespass on Oct. 6 after an incident on Dec. 18 at a home in the 400 block of Franklin Street, Butler.

He was charged alongside Joseph J. Bell, 23, of Pittsburgh, Kenneth T. Henry, 40, of Philadelphia and Janeal Armstrong, 32, of Philadelphia.

Jackson, Bell and Henry are accused of breaking into the home of Lisa Bishop and holding a gun under her chin while demanding to know where “Ginger” was.

Bishop was eventually able to call 911 to report several men with guns and drugs broke into her home, and when police arrived she was found in the living room and directed officers to the men upstairs.

Butler Township police and state police assisted Butler police in surrounding the building. Authorities tried to speak to the suspects holed up, but they got no response.

A SWAT team from Allegheny County was called to the scene and later found Armstrong hiding in an alcove behind the home. Police said he was carrying 31 stamp bags of suspected heroin, two plastic bags containing suspected crack cocaine, three bags of suspected marijuana, and $700 in cash.

The SWAT team eventually launched tear gas into the building and located the three other men hiding in an attic above 430 Franklin St., which shares the space with Bishop’s home at 428 Franklin St., ending the seven-hour standoff. They found no drugs on those three suspects, police said.

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