BRADFORD, Pa. — A Foster Township man who broke into his former girlfriend's home, struck her in the face with a firearm and then shot at a fleeing friend's car has been sentenced to 80 to 160 months in Pennsylvania state prison, McKean County District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer announced. Matthew Luke, of Lafferty Hollow in Foster Township, appeared before visiting Judge Robert Yeatts at the McKean County Courthouse on November 10, 2026, for a plea conference and sentencing hearing, and pleaded guilty in a case stemming from a violent night in Keating Township on December 6, 2025. On top of the prison term, the court imposed one year of re-entry supervision, ruled Luke ineligible for early parole, barred him from any contact with the victims or their families, and ordered restitution. The victims are not being named.
Source: Coudy News, reporting McKean County District Attorney's announcement
The night of December 6, 2025, on Route 646
Pennsylvania State Police were dispatched that night to a home on Route 646 in Keating Township after reports of gunfire and an assault inside the residence, the district attorney's office said. Lead investigator Corporal Sierra Rooke, of the State Police Lewis Run barracks, determined that Luke had entered the home of his former girlfriend without permission. While inside, he struck her in the face with a firearm, causing bodily injury and property damage, according to the investigation described by the DA.
Source: McKean County District Attorney, via Coudy News
When a friend of the victim tried to flee the Gifford-area residence in a vehicle, Luke fired at the car, striking it and causing the driver to lose control and crash into a ditch, the DA's office said. WESB reported the same sequence: Luke beat his former girlfriend with a gun and shot at another woman's vehicle as it was driving away from the residence. No further injuries from the shooting or the ditch crash were detailed in the announcements.
Source: WESB, reporting the McKean County District Attorney's release
Arrest, and the four guilty pleas
Corporal Rooke and additional troopers from the Pennsylvania State Police Lewis Run barracks located Luke and placed him under arrest. He subsequently pleaded guilty to burglary of an occupied residence, a first-degree felony; simple assault with a deadly-weapon enhancement, a second-degree misdemeanour; propulsion of missiles into an occupied structure or vehicle, a first-degree misdemeanour; and aggravated assault with a deadly-weapon enhancement, the DA's office said.
Source: McKean County District Attorney, via Monarch Media
80 to 160 months in state prison, followed by one year of re-entry supervision; no eligibility for early parole; no contact with the victims or their immediate families and no presence on their premises; and restitution to the victims, to the Pennsylvania State Police, and for all associated crime-lab fees. The announcements did not publish a dollar figure for the restitution.
What an 80-to-160-month sentence means in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania sentences are ordinarily indeterminate — a minimum and a maximum. The minimum, here 80 months, is normally the point at which an inmate first becomes eligible to be considered for parole, and the maximum, 160 months, is the outer limit the state can hold him on this sentence. Judge Yeatts additionally ruled Luke ineligible for early parole, narrowing any route to release ahead of the court's terms. Eighty months is six years and eight months; 160 months is thirteen years and four months — which is why local coverage has described the outcome, in round terms, as a sentence of up to roughly 13 years.
Why the case matters in McKean County
Keating Township and the Gifford area are rural communities east of Bradford in Pennsylvania's northern tier, where the State Police — not a municipal force — are the primary responders over long distances, and where a shots-fired call at a home draws troopers from the Lewis Run barracks. The DA's announcement framed the outcome as reflecting how seriously Pennsylvania courts treat domestic-violence-related offences, especially when firearms are involved, pointing to the lengthy prison term and the strict post-release conditions as protection for the victims. Awaaz Punjab is reporting the announcement's own framing as the DA's position, not as an independent finding.
What happens next
Luke will be transferred into the state prison system to serve the 80-to-160-month term, with the one year of re-entry supervision to follow his release and the no-contact orders remaining in force. Because the case ended in a guilty plea rather than a trial, there is no pending trial date; any post-sentence motions or appeal would run from the November 10 sentencing. The restitution — to the victims, the State Police and the crime lab — is payable under the court's order, though the announcements gave no amount. Awaaz Punjab will update this report if the Department of Corrections custody record or any court filing adds confirmed detail.