A Lehighton man who had admitted to stabbing a man in the shoulder and fibbing to police ducked out of his sentencing hearing in Carbon County court Tuesday morning and hasn't been seen since.

Larry J. Moser Jr., 34, was scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Steven Serfass on charges of simple assault and giving false information to police.On Tuesday morning, Moser was in Serfass' courtroom early, even before his lawyer, Kent Watkins, arrived. He and Watkins chatted about Moser's case, Watkins said, and Moser had said he had issues with some of the aspects of the charges.At some point between their conversation and his scheduled appearance before the judge, Moser vanished."I looked through the whole courthouse," Watkins said. "It was if he was zipped up by aliens."Then, Moser called a court office, saying he was outside, but wouldn't come in unless Watkins was with him. Watkins went out, but Moser was once again nowhere to be found.After waiting for Moser to show up, then spending a few minutes puzzling over the situation with Watkins, Assistant District Attorney Jean A. Engler and Clerk of Courts William McGinley, Serfass issued a bench warrant for Moser's arrest.The charges against Moser stemmed from two cases. In April, he was arrested for stabbing Michael Taschler in the shoulder during an argument in April in the trestle area along the Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe. In that case, he was charged with simple assault, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.The aggravated assault and reckless endangerment charges were dropped during plea negotiations in August.In the second case, he was involved in an accident in Summit Hill on Aug. 9, and ran away from the crash. He later told police it wasn't he who was driving, that his car had been stolen before the accident. Later, he admitted he had been behind the wheel.