A 57-year-old Butler man was sentenced Thursday to two years of intermediate punishment, a flexible form of probation, for pointing a gun at a man during a dispute in 2018.

As part of Timothy J. Krick's sentence, he must serve the first six months of his punishment on house arrest with electronic monitoring.

In October, a Butler county jury acquitted him of most, but not all, charges and found him guilty of one misdemeanor count of simple assault. Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford noted the use of a gun in the incident elevates the crime, and asked Judge Timothy McCune to sentence him to a jail term of nine to 18 months.

“As you know, the victim was terrified,” Pitchford said.

Prosecutors previously argued that Krick threatened children who were waiting at a bus stop on the corner of Spang and Morton avenues to get off his property, even though witnesses stated they weren't on his land, according to court documents.

During previous hearings, Peter Schmitt, a father of one of the children Krick was acquitted of threatening, testified that he was waiting for the bus to arrive when he had to wrestle the gun away from Krick before calling 911.

“He stated that he was tired of the children stealing his mail,” Schmitt testified last year.

That is when Krick went inside his house, stating he was “going to take care of this once and for all,” before coming back outside with a rifle, Schmitt said.

The jury in Krick's trial dismissed the assault charges against the underage victims, determining that he only was guilty of getting into a fight with an adult.

Public defender Chuck Nedz, representing Krick, pointed this out and also said the weapon was unloaded during the dispute. He repeated his argument that Krick was in the process of taking the rifle to his car when he was “attacked” by Schmitt.

Schmitt, of Butler, was called to testify during the trial. In previous hearings, he testified he was waiting with his 9-year-old stepson for the bus to arrive when Krick went back into his house and grabbed a rifle before coming back out.

Nedz said Thursday that since the incident, Krick hasn't gotten into any trouble.

“Krick is not a threat to anyone,” Nedz said during sentencing. “Nothing would be solved by putting Mr. Krick back in jail.”

As McCune prepared to sentence Krick, he observed the jury's findings.

“They found that you pointed the rifle at him while threatening him,” McCune said.

After the dispute on April 27, 2018, Krick was arrested, and he didn't post his $10,000 bail until July 19 of that year. For that, Krick received credit for time already served.