Lansdale man arrested for lurking outside his ex’s home with a gun and night-vision goggles, DA says

The woman who called the police was terrified. She had heard a knocking at her window, late at night, at her small home that abuts a dense field of trees. She was so scared she couldn’t stop shaking.

It was her ex-boyfriend, the woman later told New Hanover Township Police. And, prosecutors in Montgomery County said Tuesday, he had driven to her home armed with a 9mm handgun, two full magazines of ammunition, and night-vision goggles.

That late-night visitor, Edward Cordenner III, was charged with gun offenses and resisting arrest for the Feb. 4 encounter. Late last week, prosecutors added additional charges against him and his current girlfriend, Kristin Sweigard, after they say they learned she illegally purchased three guns for Cordenner, a convicted felon and registered sex offender, and conspired with him to lie to police about the night he was arrested.

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The couple has been charged with conspiracy and making false statements after prosecutors intercepted phone calls between Cordenner, 36, in which he asked Sweigard, 38, to say she travelled with him to his ex-girlfriend’s home, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for their arrests.

Both remained in custody Tuesday, in lieu of $250,000 cash for Cordenner, and $75,000 cash for Sweigard, court records show. There was no indication either had hired an attorney.

On the night of his arrest, police found Cordenner, of Lansdale, at a home on Colflesh Road in New Hanover Township at about 1:30 a.m., the affidavit said. He told the officers he went there to pick up his motorcycle from his ex-girlfriend, but no such vehicle was found at the scene.

Cordenner became nervous under questioning, and began to fight with the officers when they attempted to detain him, according to the affidavit. After restraining him, the officers found a full magazine of 9mm ammunition in his pocket. Further searching the area, they recovered a Taurus G2c 9mm handgun on the ground.

Investigators learned the gun had been purchased by Sweigard in October at a gun store in Warminster, where she lives, the affidavit said.

In 2010, Cordenner was convicted by a Bucks County jury of statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and related offenses for raping a 14-year-old girl he had met at a playground in Warminster, according to court filings. He was later sentenced to five-to-10 years in state prison and forced to register as a sex offender.

As a result of that conviction, he was not legally allowed to own a firearm. But that didn’t stop him from procuring guns, prosecutors allege.

While Cordenner was held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, investigators heard him on a recorded call instructing a friend to move items from a specific location in his garage, the affidavit said.

Detectives later served a warrant on Cordenner’s home in Lansdale and found an AR-15 rifle and a .12 gauge shotgun that had also been purchased by Sweigard between June and November. A third gun, a .22 rifle with a scope, was also recovered.

In an interview, Sweigard admitted she owned a gun, but said it had been stolen. She couldn’t remember the details of the theft, and asked to end the interview when detectives questioned her about owning any additional firearms, according to the affidavit.

Cordenner, on a recorded jail phone line, later told his friend that he needed to contact Sweigard, saying that “getting ahold of her could be the difference between 10 years here or a month here,” the affidavit said.

Sweigard eventually contacted Cordenner, and he pressured her to tell police she was at the New Hanover home with him, but fled and dropped her gun when she saw the cops because she had been smoking marijuana.

Cordenner told her she “needed to be convincing” in lying to the detectives, and urged her to look up the home on Google Maps to understand the layout of the property, according to the affidavit.

Both are expected to face a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Maurice K. Saylor on March 5.