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By Sara Ganim- sganim@centredaily.com
BELLEFONTE — A State College man convicted of peeping into a woman’s window in August 2007 was sentenced Wednesday to at least two years and five months in prison because of his decade-long criminal history.

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“I think there has been a pattern of predatory behavior,” Judge Pamela A. Ruest told Michael A. Kuhn, 32. “I believe you are a serious threat to the community. Confinement is the only way to protect the community.”

Prosecutor Nathan Boob rattled off a list of Kuhn’s previous arrests, including two trespass-related crimes in women’s homes where Kuhn was given probationary or rehabilitative sentences but showed no remorse and eventually re-offended.

This was just one incident showing Kuhn is “preying on our community,” Boob said.

“How many more breaks should we offer Mr. Kuhn?” Boob said. “Mr. Kuhn doesn’t get the point. Mr. Kuhn is not amenable to treatment and is a threat to our community.”

Kuhn is scheduled to go to trial June 28 on charges he broke into another woman’s home July 4, 2007, repeatedly raped and tried to kill her.

AdvertisementRuest sentenced him to five to 12 months for his loitering and prowling at nighttime conviction after a jury found him guilty in March.

Then, she sentenced him to an additional two-to four-years in state prison because he was on probation at the time of the crime.

In 2003, he was arrested at gunpoint hiding in the shower of a 20- year-old woman’s apartment after she heard him creeping around and called police at about 2 a.m.

He received an intermediate punishment sentence for that crime, but it was extended when he didn’t pay the court costs, then revoked when he was arrested for loitering.

“It’s clear to the court that probation has been an ineffective tool in his case,” Ruest said.

Kuhn addressed Ruest, at first calmly explaining how he took responsibility for his prior offenses, then becoming agitated insisting: “I did not commit a crime. I wasn’t looking in (the woman’s) window and I will appeal this.”

Kuhn’s record includes a 1999 theft case for which he was sentenced to ARD, and a 2002 case in which former prosecutor Lance Marshall offered him a summary citation for public drunkenness when he was caught in the kitchen of a woman’s home.

Kuhn’s attorney, Edward Blanarik said, “If there is a pattern, we would say that is minimal.”

Kuhn has spent 611 days in jail since he was arrested in 2007, making him eligible for parole in about five months, Blanarik said. However, he was denied bail when arrested and will have to resolve the rape case before being released, Blanarik said.

Blanarik expects to file a motion within 10 days for Ruest to reconsider the state prison sentence.