Jeannette man to serve prison sentence for gun offenses

A Jeannette man was sentenced Thursday to a 5-to-10 year prison term for two gun-related incidents in 2021.

John R. Horne, 32, pleaded guilty in August to his role in repeated weapons fire at a Jeannette home and allegations that he brought an old gun into a district judge’s office several days later.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger ordered Horne to serve concurrent sentences in both cases.

Horne was not permitted to possess a weapon because of an outstanding protection from abuse order when on July 3, 2021 he was spotted firing multiple rounds from a rifle in a neighbor’s backyard on South 11th Street, Jeannette police said. Investigators said about 15 spent shell casings were discovered at the scene.

Police said no one was injured in the shooting.

Horne pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

He was charged again several days later after police said Horne was in possession of a “weathered” pistol loaded with eight rounds as he entered the district judge offices in Jeannette after he was taken into custody on the other charges.

The loaded gun was in Horne’s front pocket, police said.

Horned claimed he was holding the weapon for a girlfriend.

According to court records, Horne was one of six people arrested in 2012 in connection with a string of arsons in Jeannette. He was sentenced to 18 to 36 months in a state prison in those cases.