A 29-year-old man was sentenced Friday to two to four years in state prison on several firearms violations and related charges in an investigation that began when he pointed a gun at a woman in the parking lot of a Walmart in Hilltown Township.

William J. Winecker, of Upper Church Road, pleaded guilty in three cases, all stemming from the Aug. 10, 2020 incident at the Walmart. In a second case, Winecker assaulted his mother because she spoke to police, and the third set of charges resulted from a search of his mother’s home where police located several “ghost guns” – guns made at home that have no serial number and are untraceable.

Because of a past conviction and adjudication, Winecker was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

In the three cases, Winecker pleaded guilty to a total of 14 charges, including five counts of prohibited possession of a firearm and one count each of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, hindering apprehension or prosecution by concealing or destroying evidence, firearms not to be carried without a license and possession of an instrument of crime.

Common Pleas Judge Diane E. Gibbons sentenced him to two to four years in state prison, followed by six years’ state probation.

The investigation began with a call of an armed man at the Walmart parking lot at 2:41 p.m., on August 10.

Police responded and spoke to a woman, who said she was with her 10-year-old daughter when she pulled into an open parking spot. A man in the car next to her began cursing at her, and when she and her daughter got out of the car, he pointed a gun at them, “asking if she wanted to die today,” Deputy District Attorney Megan Hunsicker said in court Friday.

The woman and child hid behind a vehicle, and Winecker sped away.

Hilltown Township police were able to track him down by reviewing surveillance footage and seeing that he had dropped off a woman at the Walmart prior to making the gun threats. That woman identified the person who dropped her off as her son, William Winecker.  

Hours later, at 12:54 a.m., on August 11, Hilltown police were dispatched to a domestic assault in progress at a home on Upper Church Road and spoke to Winecker’s mother, who emerged from the home extremely emotional and bleeding from her left ear. 

She told police Winecker hit her and broke her television because he was upset about the earlier incident at the Walmart, accusing her of being a snitch to police.

Later that month, Hilltown Township police executed a search warrant to search for all weapons, firearm accessories and ammunition at the Upper Church Road home and located a loaded handgun, two loaded rifles and a loaded shotgun hidden in the attic of the residence. 

“The handgun and rifles did not have serial numbers and were completed ghost guns,” Hunsicker said in court.  Police also located other 80% receivers, multiple gun-making tools, parts and components.

During the investigation, Hilltown police learned that after the Walmart incident, Winecker hid all his gun tools, parts and completed firearms in the attic of his mother’s home in Hilltown and went to his grandmother’s house in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with the gun he pulled on the woman at Walmart.

Police were not able to find the gun used in the Walmart incident. After reviewing prison phone calls, however, police heard Winecker use coded language to direct his grandmother to get rid of it. The grandmother later told police she threw the gun in the river.

Attempts by Hilltown Police and the Washington Township Police in New Jersey to locate the gun were unsuccessful.

The Hilltown Township Police Department were assisted by Bucks County Detectives and Washington Township (NJ) Police Department in this investigation. Deputy District Attorney Megan A. Hunsicker prosecuted the case.

"This defendant was a public menace,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. “Due to the great work of Hilltown Officer Jim Browne and others, Deputy District Attorney Megan Hunsicker, and Bucks County Detectives, he is behind bars for the next two to four years.

“To Megan, Jim and Matthew: Thank you for keeping us safe!"

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org.