A Carbon County man admitted striking a Jim Thorpe police officer while he was directing traffic and also admitted to illegal recording of movies and his part in a fight at the county prison.

Robert W. Monroe, 53, of Towamensing Trails, Albrightsville, entered guilty pleas in three pending cases on Tuesday in Carbon County court and is facing a state prison term when sentenced in about a month.Monroe appeared before Judge Joseph J. Matika to enter the pleas in the following cases.Monroe pleaded to one count each of aggravated assault with vehicle-while driving under the influence, accidents involving death or serious injury, both felony threes, and DUI of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.In a second case in which he was charged with copying current movies onto discs for resale, he pleaded to one count of copying recording devices, a felony three.In the third matter, stemming from an incident at the county prison in which fight occurred among several inmates in which correctional officers were injured, he pleaded to one count each of failure to disperse and persistent disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.A plea agreement calls for Monroe to be sentenced to a minimum of four years in a state prison on the first two cases. In the prison incident there is no recommendation on a sentence.Monroe was charged by state police at Lehighton for an incident on Nov. 30, 2011, in Nesquehoning, just past the line with Jim Thorpe, along SR209.Jim Thorpe Officer Joseph David was assisting Nesquehoning police with a disabled vehicle at that location. Monroe drove through the area and struck David. He initially did not stop and left the scene, but returned a short time later.David sustained serious leg injuries and had to under surgery for multiple fractures, Assistant District Attorney William E. McDonald said.When Monroe returned he was found to be under the influence of a controlled substance. State police at Lehighton were asked to take over the investigation by Nesquehoning police. While taking Monroe into custody troopers found about 440 discs containing fraudulent recordings of movies, many of the movie titles still were in theaters at the time.Based on that finding, troopers secured a search warrant for Monroe's home. At the home troopers found about 1,000 discs of recorded movies. Also found in the home was multiple CD-ROM disc drives set up to copy and record CR-R and DVD-R discs. Master copies of the discs were found in Monroe's vehicle at the scene of the accident.He was then charged for an incident on April 7, 2012, at the county prison when several inmates got into a fight, reportedly racially motivated, in the cell block area. Correctional officers were injured trying to quell the fracas. Monroe was one of the inmates involved in the incident.In exchange for the pleas the district attorney's office dropped some charges in each case including another count of aggravated assault by vehicle and accident involving injury in the incident with the police officer. Dropped were counts of trademark counterfeiting and unauthorized transfer of sounds from a recording device. In the prison incident a simple assault count was dropped.Matika deferred sentencing and ordered the adult probation office to prepare a presentence investigation report.Monroe was returned to the county prison where he has been an inmate since Nov. 30, 2012.