A Butler Township man will be in jail for at least three years for choking a woman last summer after a dinner date.

Judge William Shaffer sentenced George L. Montgomery IV, 26, Thursday to three years to 72 months in prison followed by four years of probation.

The judge also ordered Montgomery to not contact the victim, who was present in court for the sentencing. Montgomery appeared by video from Butler County Prison.

Montgomery pleaded guilty March 8 to a felony strangulation, applying pressure to throat or neck.

Montgomery is to pay $1,652 to the victim and $3,200 to an insurance company as part of restitution orders. He was given 251 days of credit for time already served.

After the attack on Aug. 28, the victim, who already had a protection from abuse order against the defendant, was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries in the incident, police said.

The woman told police that the PFA had recently been modified to allow Montgomery to speak with her, according to charging documents. The couple met on a Friday to have dinner out together.

But when they returned to the defendant's home on the 200 block of Evans City Road, police said, the victim recounted that he hit, punched and head-butted her.

He allegedly threw her out of the vehicle and onto the ground and then choked her. She said he pulled her into his home where he again hit and choked her.

The victim recalled that she “began to see stars, became light headed and struggled to catch my breath,” documents stated.

Montgomery eventually let her go and pushed her outside the home, police said. The woman told investigators that he made her drive him around in her Honda CR-V after apparently believing police had been called.

The couple at some point made it to the Sheetz store on the 400 block of Evans City Road. The victim accused the defendant of choking her while she was in the driver's seat and parked at the store.

She told police that she passed out, documents said. After regaining consciousness, she managed to flee out the back door of the vehicle and run into the store for help.

Police were called to the store around 11:40 p.m. Officers described the woman as having redness and a bruise on her neck and a bump on her head.