Homeless Machete Attacker Gets 4½ to 9 Years in Jail

A homeless man who slashed another homeless man in the face with a machete in a tent city just north of Schoenersville Road was sentenced Thursday to four-and-a-half to nine years in a state prison, according to published reports.

Levine H. Koerner, 58, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the Nov. 19 attack on 42-year-old Richard Heilman, according to The Morning Call.

Northampton County prosecutors dropped a charged of attempted homicide because neither the victim nor a witness, who also was homeless, could be located by police for a January preliminary hearing, the newspaper reported.

When authorities arrived at the scene of the attack, Heilman was “bleeding profusely from a large gaping wound to the right side of his face,” police said. He was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital – Muhlenberg for treatment.

Bethlehem city police were initially called to the scene, just north of the 1400 block of Schoenersville Road, but the attack occurred just beyond the municipal boundary in Hanover Township, Northampton County. It was then Colonial Regional Police that made the formal arrest.

According to police:

• Koerner and Heilman had been living in tents in the wooded area. Sometime Monday evening, the two men got into an argument.
• Koerner told police that it was during this argument that Heilman tackled him. Koerner admitted to police that he went back to his tent, retrieved his machete, sought out Heilman and assaulted him, yelling “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”
• Koerner told police that he wished he had cut Heilman’s head off and that the machete attack would teach him not to tackle him.

Koerner worked for years as a welder, but most recently worked as a security guard for the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, according to The Express Times. But the casino cut his work hours, which left him unable to pay his bills and forced him out of an apartment he had shared with his daughter, the newspaper reported.