Bensalem Man Who Beat, Choked Girlfriend Sent To Prison: DA

BENSALEM, PA — A 35-year-old Bensalem man was sentenced to between two and four years in state prison Thursday after beating and choking his ex-girlfriend three different times in less than a year, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

Patrick Dando of Elmwood Avenue pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, strangulation, and theft by unlawful taking in the most recent attack, which a news release from the DA's office said he committed while he was out on bail for the first two. He pleaded guilty to strangulation and simple assault for each of the first two attacks on the victim.

In addition to the state prison sentence, Dando was sentenced by President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. to six years of probation, consecutive to his prison term.

Dando was first charged with attacking the victim in her Falls Township apartment on Aug. 7 last year. In that assault, the DA's office said Dando grabbed the victim by the neck, threw her onto the bed and covered her mouth and nose to prevent her from screaming. She suffered injuries to her neck, chin, cheeks, and lips.

Dando was sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $40,000 bail, 10 percent, but was able to post bail the next day.

Months later, on Oct. 26, Dando attacked the same woman after she told him she was ending their relationship, the DA said. He was again arrested and charged, but his bail was set at $25,000 unsecured, prompting Assistant District Attorney Elliott R. Katz to file a motion to have his bail revoked, so he could be sent back to jail — but that motion was denied.

On March 5, Dando returned to the victim’s apartment and attacked her again, this time pushing her down a flight of concrete steps and choking her until she blacked out, according to the news release. The release went on to say that she later discovered that he had taken her cellphone and the spare key fob to her car.

Katz filed a second bail revocation motion after the third attack, which was approved.

The assaults were investigated by the Falls Township Police Department and Bucks County Detectives. The U.S. Marshals Service assisted in taking him into custody. This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Elliott R. Katz.