Jordan Martins is escorted by a deputy sheriff from a Montgomery County courtroom on Sept. 5, 2023 with a 17-34 year prison term for multiple sexual offenses. (Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
NORRISTOWN — Two days after being sent to prison for coercing multiple underage girls to perform sex acts or to send him nude photos in exchange for marijuana, a King of Prussia man returned to court to admit to additional charges of strangling his former girlfriend and threatening her with a gun.
Jordan Aleem Martins, 22, of the 200 block of West DeKalb Pike, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Thursday to 3 to 6 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of strangulation, simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime and terroristic threats in connection with domestic violence related incidents that occurred between 2018 and 2022 in Upper Merion.
Under a plea agreement, that sentence will run concurrently with the 17- to 34-year prison term Martins received earlier this week on charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, rape, statutory sexual assault and criminal coercion in connection with incidents involving more than a dozen victims between the ages of 13 and 19 between 2015 and 2021.
Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who presided over both cases, also ordered Martins to complete domestic violence counseling and to have no contact with his former girlfriend.
With the latest charges, prosecutors alleged Martins strangled his former girlfriend, whom he met when she was 14, and physically abused her on multiple occasions and threatened her by pointing a gun at her head telling her, “I’m gonna (expletive) kill you,” according to a criminal complaint.
“He inflicted years of abuse on her. It’s an egregious form of domestic violence, textbook domestic violence. His terror didn’t end until she could finally be free from him while he was awaiting trial on his other dockets,” said Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Glenning, who prosecuted all of the cases against Martins.
Martins later gloated about the gun incident during phone conversations he had with the victim in 2021 and 2022 while he was in the county jail awaiting trial in the sexual coercion case, according to court papers.
“Do you realize if I would’a (sic) pulled that trigger you would not be alive?…you were begging me not to…I gave you life, I let you live…do you realize that…you need to be thankful…,” Martins stated to the victim, according to a criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion Detective Michael Davis.
Glenning said Martins had a “self-inflated ego” and thought of himself as God “with the ability to give her life by not shooting her.”
“That was the type of conduct that he was doing, which is horrific. And she lived in the terror for years,” Glenning said.
The young woman, her child advocate lawyer Lisa Kane Brown by her side for support, presented a powerful victim impact statement as she confronted Martins in court.
“You are a controlling, lying, manipulative piece of garbage,” the young woman, now 19, said as she recounted Martins’ abuse, but added she is a survivor. “Jordan Martins, you did not break me. I survived you. I won.”
Martins stared at the woman as she spoke to him but showed no reaction.
When asked by a reporter later if he had a reaction to the woman’s statements, Martins nonchalantly uttered, “Not at all,” adding the court hearing, “went alright.”
Glenning and the judge praised the young woman for her bravery.
“She had her moment in court and was able to finally confront him and reclaim everything he took from her over those years that they were together,” Glenning said.
“While you were victimized, you are not a victim. You are to be commended for your bravery for coming forward,” Rothstein addressed the young woman directly.
Detectives became aware of the domestic violence complaints as they were investigating the separate charges of sexual assault and coercion involving more than a dozen victims, ages 13 to 19.
Fifteen victims, young women and men, testified during an April nonjury trial that Martins coerced them to perform sex acts or to send him nude photos while they were underage, sometimes in exchange for marijuana. Rothstein convicted Martins of multiple sexual offenses and called the incidents “a textbook case of grooming.”
In addition to the 17- to-34-year prison term she imposed in the sexual coercion case, Rothstein ordered Martins to complete 13 years of consecutive probation, ensuring that Martins will be under court supervision for 47 years, until he is 69 years old.
Rothstein also determined Martins meets criteria under state guidelines to be classified as a sexually violent predator. That classification will trigger more stringent restrictions, including mandatory counseling and community notification about Martins’ living arrangements after he’s paroled.
Martins, who was represented by defense lawyer James P. Lyons, also faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, formally known as Megan’s Law.
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