A Carbon County woman was sentenced to a county prison term on Monday on a charge of simple assault for assaulting her daughter.

Nina Renee Hofstetter, 39, formerly of Summit Hill, was sentenced by Judge Steven R. Serfass to serve one to 23 months in prison.

Hofstetter previously pleaded guilty to the charge. She was arrested for an incident on Oct. 27, 2019, at her home in Summit Hill where she was accused of assaulting her then 17-year-old daughter. In exchange for the plea, a felony 2 count of strangulation was dropped in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office. At the guilty plea proceeding, the victim said she felt that her mother should have received some type of punishment for what she did. The victim was not at the sentencing.

Serfass rejected a request for a probation term. Serfass noted the felony count of strangulation was dropped in a plea deal giving the defendant some consideration. He also said imposing a probation term would depreciate the seriousness of the crime.

Hofstetter said, “Nothing like this ever happened before.” She said she entered a rehabilitation program after the incident occurred. She said she hasn’t spoken to her daughter since a preliminary hearing was held in the matter before a district judge.

At the plea hearing she also entered a plea to one count of possession of a controlled substance. She was charged by agents of the state attorney general’s office and county drug task force members for her part in an ongoing investigation of the sale of oxycodone at various locations in the county. In another plea deal the DA dropped a felony count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Sentencing in that case was continued to a later date.

Serfass also ordered her to get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, supply a DNA sample and render 100 hours of community service. She will serve the jail term on consecutive weekends beginning March 5 at 9 a.m.

Other pleas

Serfass also imposed sentences in cases in which the defendants previously entered guilty pleas.

John David Breitenbach, 53, of White Haven, was sentenced to serve 30 days in the county prison followed by 60 days on home electronic monitoring (house arrest) and up to five years of supervision on a driving under the influence charge. He was arrested on April 20, 2019, by state police at Fern Ridge along Interstate 80 in Kidder Township. A test revealed a 0.25 BAC.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,500, license suspended for 18 months, supply a DNA sample and render 100 hours of community service.

He will begin the jail term on Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. and serve it straight time.

Richard Joseph Curro, 52, of Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, was placed on probation for six months on a DUI charge with 15 days spent on electronic monitoring (house arrest). The monitoring will be set up at a residence in Lake Harmony which he owns.

He was arrested on Dec. 27, 2019, along Moseywood Road by Kidder Township police. A test revealed a 0.30 BAC.

He was also ordered to get a mental health evaluation, pay a fine of $500, license suspended for a year and zero tolerance for drug or alcohol use.

The three defendants were also ordered to pay court costs of about $1,000 and a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole or probation.