More than three years after Christopher Ruse was arrested for locking his grandmother in her basement during a scheme to steal her Social Security benefits, he was sentenced Monday to county jail during a hearing in West Chester. Read more DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

by Vinny Vella Published Sept. 22, 2025, 5:06 p.m. ET

A Chester County judge on Monday rejected a Phoenixville man’s profession of remorse for locking his grandmother in her squalid basement while he and his friend siphoned her Social Security benefits.

Judge Alita A. Rovito admonished Christopher Ruse for “emotionally, financially, physically and psychologically” abusing his 62-year-old grandmother, the woman who raised him, before sentencing him to 11½ to 23 months in county jail, followed by five

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