GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Westmoreland County man was sentenced Tuesday to one to two years in prison for assaulting an officer when officers tried to arrest him in December 2021.
Ray Shetler Jr. spoke with Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek as he was being escorted out of the courthouse after his sentencing. He said felt good about the sentence from Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.
>> Saltsburg man convicted of assaulting police officers
“I feel the judge was very fair,” Shetler said. “I didn’t have no (sic) problems with what she gave me. It is what it is at the end of the day.”
Shetler Jr. was found guilty in October on three of four counts related to that officer’s assault in December 2021. Police tried to arrest Shetler back then because he didn’t show up for a probation hearing.
Sgt. Irvin Shipley of the Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Office was injured during that arrest.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, Shipley said Shetler had every opportunity to surrender peacefully but “chose violence.”
Prosecutors called Shetler a “menace to society and law enforcement.”
“What do you have to say to the state who says you’re a menace and you brought this upon yourself?” Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek asked Shetler.
“God will judge everyone in the end, I know I told the truth and I have nothing to worry about,” Shetler said. “Those guys will have to meet their maker in the day.”
Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence.
They said any time he’s had an incident with law enforcement, an officer has been hurt. In 2018, Shetler was acquitted of killing an officer in 2015.
For this incident, he was sentenced to one to two years for aggravated assault and one to two years for disarming an officer. Those sentences will run at the same time.
He’s also getting credit for time served, which was 399 days in jail.
That means he will likely spend less than a year in prison before going on two years of probation for all three counts.
“Gotta do a little bit of time and I’ll be home before you know it,” Shetler said.
When asked if he had anything to say to Sgt. Shipley, who was injured: “Yeah, you’re a liar,” he said.
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