Woman pleads in 4 cases, gets jail time
A Carbon County woman entered guilty pleas on Tuesday in four pending criminal cases and was immediately sentenced to a prison term.
Jessica Mongi, 29, formerly of Summit Hill, who also lists a Steelton, Dauphin County, address, pleaded to one count each of driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia, false identification to law enforcement and theft. She was also sentenced on a second DUI count and endangering the welfare of a child, which she had previously pleaded to.Judge Joseph J. Matika sentenced her to serve a total of 90 days to 60 months in prison.Mongi is currently an inmate in the county prison on the instant charges and also for failure to appear for court proceedings. She has admitted to a severe drug addiction problem but claims she has gotten it under control.The theft count stems from an incident on April 23, 2015. She admitted taking a diamond ring and gold chain from a homein Lansford; the possession charge stems from an incident on July 12, 2015, in Summit Hill, where police went to a residence to serve a warrant on her and found her in possession of drugs; the false ID stems from an incident on Nov. 23, 2015, in 900 block of Oak Street Jim Thorpe where police made a vehicle stop and Mongi gave a false name to officers; and the second DUI occurred on Feb. 19, 2015, in Lansford along Route 209, where a test revealed the presence of a controlled substance.Mongi entered the Salvation Army inpatient program in Harrisburg but failed to complete it. She then entered a halfway house for about three months.She told Matika, “I just want to be home with my kids. I want help for my problems.”In addition to the prison term she must pay fines totaling $2,500 on the DUI counts with two years of license suspensions, render a total of 100 hours of community service, zero tolerance for drug use, make restitution of $50 in the theft case as the jewelry taken was recovered, pay court costs of about $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole. On the theft count she was placed on probation for a year concurrent with the other charges and fined $100 on the drug possession count.She was given credit for a total of 102 days spent in jail on the charges and paroled.