Norristown man gets jail time for strangling and unlawfully restraining a woman

NORRISTOWN – A Norristown man is headed to jail on charges he strangled a woman and restrained her during an altercation at his home.

Dwayne Aaron Campbell, 62, of the 400 block of East Moore Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 5 to 10 years in a state prison on charges of strangulation and unlawful restraint in connection with a June 2022 incident at his residence. Campbell will receive credit for time served in jail awaiting trial since his arrest on June 14, 2022.

Judge Virgil B. Walker, who convicted Campbell of the charges during a non-jury trial, recommended that Campbell serve the sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands in Somerset County, which houses older offenders and people with medical conditions.

The judge said Campbell must receive psychiatric treatment consistent with the results of mental health, drug and alcohol evaluations.

Campbell was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

An investigation into Campbell began on June 13, 2022, when a woman reported to county detectives that Campbell had strangled her in his home during an encounter earlier in June. The woman explained that she met Campbell in March 2022 and had a sexual encounter with him, according to the criminal complaint filed by Detective Kathleen Kelly.

“She said that approximately two weeks later, Campbell began making arrangements for her to have sex with his associates in exchange for cash and drugs,” Kelly alleged in the arrest affidavit.

During the first week of June, Campbell arranged for the woman to have sex with “an associate” at his residence and during that meeting the man paid the woman an additional $50 without Campbell’s knowledge, detectives said. However, Campbell found out about the extra $50 and “he became irate and refused to let her leave the residence,” Kelly alleged.

The woman told detectives that Campbell had put her in a “choke hold.”

“She explained that Campbell put his arm around her neck and pressed his arm against her throat,” Kelly wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding that the victim reported she could not speak and was having trouble breathing. “She explained that she was terrified.”

Campbell eventually released his chokehold and the woman tried to leave the home, but Campbell stood at a back door to stop her, according to court papers.

“She said she then gave Campbell the money that Campbell’s associate had given her and she left the residence,” Kelly alleged.

During the trial, the judge acquitted Campbell of a charge of false imprisonment.

Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Glenning handled the case. Attorney Thomas C. Egan III represented Campbell during the legal proceedings.