Area man guilty of assaulting ex-wife
A Chartiers Township man was found guilty Thursday of assaulting his former wife and holding her at gunpoint.
David Carl Imhoff, 37, of 445 Moon Road, was found guilty after a four-day jury trial before Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Imhoff was arrested in April 2013 after police received a call from his former wife, Brenda Worstell, 34, of Burgettstown, claiming that Imhoff punched her in the face several times and held a handgun on her. Worstell also told police Imhoff had threatened suicide.
She told police the two had been fighting for several days, and she had been staying with her parents to let things cool off. Worstell went to Imhoff’s home the day of the attack to switch vehicles and an argument ensued. Worstell left but later returned after Imhoff asked her if they could talk.
Worstell told police she was sitting on the couch with Imhoff when he began to act crazy and pulled a .22-caliber handgun from behind a cushion and pointed it at her. Worstell ran to the front door, but Imhoff blocked it and would not let her pass, police said. He then tackled her to the floor and held her down, choking her until she lost consciousness several times. She told police that she tried to get up but could not get him off her. Worstell also said he punched her two or three times in the left eye and temple.
She testified Tuesday during the trial that she feared for her life during their relationship, and recounted prior confrontations, heroin addiction and drug dealings with Imhoff. Worstell testified that on April 24, 2013, Imhoff sent her to sell heroin, and that the deal ended badly.
She told the jury that when she returned, Imhoff knocked her to the floor of their home, jumped on her, strangled her and forced her hand onto a gun to fire it, so that it would leave a print and residue.
She testified that Imhoff, who had taken drugs that day, planned to kill her and claim to police that he acted in self-defense.
“I thought I was going to die right there,” she testified.
She said the attack stopped “when something changed in his eyes and he started crying.”
She was then able to leave the residence and call police.
Worstell was treated at Canonsburg Hospital.
The couple married in 2009 and divorced nearly two years later, but they had reunited at the time of the attack.
Imhoff remains in the Washington County jail pending a sentencing hearing. A date for the hearing has not been set.