Centre County man accused of attempting to rape woman at gunpoint
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- Police charged Robert L. Collar with attempted rape and firearms offenses Sunday.
- The woman escaped after Collar allegedly fired a gun during the assault attempt.
- Collar remains jailed without bail; his preliminary hearing is set for July 2.
Nov. 26, 2025 update: Robert Collar was sentenced Sept. 19 to nine to 23 1/2 months in jail, two years of probation and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of terroristic threats. The remaining charges, including a felony count of attempted rape, were dropped.
A Snow Shoe man was arrested Sunday after a woman alleged he attempted to rape her at gunpoint.
Robert L. Collar, 59, was charged with felony counts of attempted rape and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, as well as misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault.
After escaping about 1:55 p.m. Sunday from an apartment along the 100 block of West Olive Street, the woman told state police at Rockview she refused Collar’s attempt to have sexual intercourse.
He was accused of grabbing a loaded pistol, pointing it at her and demanding that she disrobe. She refused a second time and Collar then fired a shot into a bedroom wall, a trooper wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
The woman said she was able to sneak out of the apartment because Collar was drinking and “became distracted by his own speech.” She waited for troopers at a nearby restaurant.
Collar admitted to drinking alcohol and firing a gun in the bedroom, police wrote. A trooper said Collar had glossy eyes, slurred speech, smelled of alcohol and had poor balance.
Investigators said a firearm was found in the apartment, as well as a bullet hole in a bedroom wall. A spent bullet traveled through the wall and dispensed into the neighboring room, police wrote.
No defense lawyer was listed and the Centre County Public Defender Office said it was not appointed to represent him as of Monday afternoon.
District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker denied bail Sunday, describing Collar as a threat to himself and others, “alcohol issues” and “being evicted” with nowhere to go.
He is incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 2.
This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM.