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WILKES-BARRE — A Hazleton man scheduled to be tried this week on charges stemming from a 2015 shooting instead pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault.
Jonathan Alvarez, 27, of Parkwood Street, was immediately sentenced on the charge to 40 to 80 months in state prison. Two felony firearms charges and an additional count of aggravated assault were withdrawn in exchange for Alvarez’s plea.
A jury panel was sworn in Monday afternoon, but Alvarez pleaded guilty Tuesday morning before the trial was expected to begin.
According to the affidavit, the victim in an August 2015 shooting near East Broad and North Cedar streets in Hazleton told investigators Alvarez shot him in the upper back. The victim, Christian Ashby, was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital then transferred to another facility via life flight. His condition could not immediately be determined Tuesday.
Alvarez’s sentence will run consecutive to a 42- to 84-month prison term he received in August on driving under the influence and related charges.
In that case, a jury found he ignored a slew of traffic laws and sped the wrong way on one-way roads as he led officers on a chase through the streets of Hazleton in 2014.
An abandoned Infiniti sedan was found crashed into the side of 125 E. 22nd St. and a bloodied Alvarez, police say, was found walking near Parkwood and 22nd streets with the vehicle’s owner, Inoya Monique Renee Williams.
Williams told police Alvarez burst into her home in a panic and said, “Your car, your car. I got in an accident with your car.” He allegedly handed her $1,300 and told her, “This is for your car.”
A jury convicted him of fleeing police, accidents involving damage to property, DUI and multiple summary traffic offenses in May.