A Long Pond man who took money from a Penn Forest Township couple for home repair work but never did the work was sentenced to a state prison term in Carbon County court on Tuesday afternoon.

Christopher Rivera, 36, who previously pleaded to one count of theft, as a felony, was sentenced by President Judge Roger N. Nanovic II to serve nine to 36 months in a state correctional institution. The prison term will be followed by one year of state probation.

Rivera had admitted accepting a check from the couple to do remodeling/construction work at their home. The check was issued in July 2019 but no work was ever done by Rivera. State police at Fern Ridge were notified and filed the charges. The check was for $10,000 and made out to Rivera’s girlfriend, Christina Acevedo. When interviewed, Acevedo told troopers the money was spent on other home projects, her children and food.

On Tuesday, Rivera, whose proceeding was done via video conference from the state correctional institution at Camp Hill, Cumberland County, told the court he purchased about $3,000 worth of materials for the job, but admitted never doing any work.

Rivera is currently in the state prison serving a one- to two-year term on a drunken driving charge imposed by Monroe County.

Nanovic also ordered Rivera to make restitution to the victims for the $10,000, supply a DNA sample and get a drug and alcohol evaluation.

The prison term runs concurrent with the DUI sentence, which is scheduled to expire in July, meaning he will stay incarcerated in the state prison for what is left of the 9 months. He must also pay court costs of about $1,000.