A Carbon County man was sentenced to a state prison term on Monday afternoon after pleading guilty in four pending cases.

Luis Flores-Rivas, 29, of Lehighton, entered the pleas before President Judge Roger N. Nanovic II in three cases that date back to 2008 and the fourth in 2011.Rivas, who has been incarcerated in both the county prison and the state correction institution in Frackville, Schuylkill County, was given credit for a substantial amount of time spent in prison.Rivas pleaded to one count each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance-cocaine, and aggravated asasult on a corrections officer, and two counts of institutional vandalism.He was arrested on the drug count for an incident in Franklin Township at Mooney's Motel where he was selling cocaine from a room at the motel. The motel owner reported the incident to township police who responded and found the defendant and a female, identified in police reports as Emily James, as selling drugs. James has already gone through the court system.He was charged by Nesquehoning police to the assault incident at the county prison with guardd Gary Hunsicker the listed victim.The two institutional vandalism charges stem from two separate incidents at the county prision where he damaged windows in his cell in one incident and tore a water fountain from a wall in another incident. The second incident at the county prison led to him being transferred to the state prison.Defense attorneys Stephen Vlossak Sr. and Mark Combi told Nanovic that Rivas has been dealing with mental health issues for a long time. It was noted that Rivas has spent most of his life behind bars, starting as a juvenile.In a plea bargain with the district attorney's office, Nanovic sentenced Rivas to a total of three to six years in a state prison and ordered he get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, and supply a DNA sample.He was given credit for a total of over 1,700 days spent in prison on the charges. Althrough he has passed his minimum term he will be transferred back to a state prison as he now comes under the jurisdiction of the state parole board who will determine when he is actually released.