NORRISTOWN \u2014 A Philadelphia man who admitted to illegally possessing a gun and drugs during a traffic stop in Norristown is awaiting his fate from a judge.<\/p>\n
Nicholas Miguel Connelly, 32, of the 500 block of Rosalie Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to felony charges of persons not to possess a firearm and possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, specifically Xanax, in connection with a June 2025 incident in Norristown.<\/p>\n
Judge Steven T. O\u2019Neill deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Connelly, who will undergo drug and alcohol evaluations.<\/p>\n
Connelly, who potentially faces several years in prison on the charges, remains free after posting bail, pending his sentencing hearing later this year.<\/p>\n
The investigation began about 1:34 a.m. June 6, 2025, when a borough police officer observed Connelly operating a Jeep Liberty vehicle, allegedly at more than the posted speed limit of 25 mph, on Violet Street. The officer conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle in the 500 block of East Basin Street.<\/p>\n
During the stop, police determined Connelly\u2019s license was suspended and he advised police the vehicle registration and insurance information were not in the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed by Norristown Police Officer Shane Secrest.<\/p>\n
Based on the circumstances, police advised Connelly that they were going to have the vehicle towed and Connelly turned off the vehicle and handed police the keys.<\/p>\n
When the officer asked Connelly to exit the vehicle so an officer could inventory the vehicle before the tow truck arrived, Connelly began \u201cto start acting nervous,\u201d Secrest alleged.<\/p>\n
After Connelly was out of the vehicle, police observed a black shoulder bag under the driver\u2019s seat and questioned Connelly about what was inside. Connelly became nervous and allegedly kept repeating \u201cit\u2019s nothing, it\u2019s nothing \u2026 it\u2019s my belongings,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n
When police searched the black bag and the vehicle, they found various controlled substances, including 25 pills identified as Xanax and amounts of marijuana, heroin and cocaine, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n
Police also found a Smith & Wesson Airweight .38-Special revolver, loaded with five rounds in the cylinder, under the driver\u2019s seat. Authorities alleged Connelly did not have a permit to carry a weapon.<\/p>\n
Additionally, police alleged Connelly had a criminal history that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.<\/p>\n
Other charges of carrying a firearm without a license, possession of marijuana, cocaine and heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia are slated to be dismissed against Connelly at the time of sentencing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORRISTOWN \u2014 A Philadelphia man who admitted to illegally possessing a gun and drugs during a traffic stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,182,139,28,69,71,70,10918],"class_list":["post-216118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-courts","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-top-stories-tth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}