A Palmerton man, who admitted he assaulted his then girlfriend in front of the victim’s young child while driving, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Carbon County court to one count of simple assault.

Andrew Floyd Orach, 29, entered his plea before Judge Joseph J. Matika for an incident on Dec. 18, 2020.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by trooper Gary Fedor of the Lehighton barracks:

At 3:52 p.m. Dec. 18, state police responded to the area of Covered Bridge Road at Lower Smith Gap Road, Lower Towamensing Township, for the report of a woman being dragged by a black pickup.

Fedor saw three vehicles parked along the shoulder of the northbound lane of Covered Bridge Road.

When Fedor arrived the victim was seated in the passenger’s seat of one of the cars, so that she could stay warm. The woman’s forehead, eyes, and lip were starting to bruise and were swollen, and she was covered in blood. There was blood in the snow in the area where the incident occurred.

The victim said that Orach became upset with her as he was driving her back from Blue Mountain Ski Area where he was supposed to drop her off for work. While driving, Orach punched her numerous times in the face, causing the injuries.

The victim’s 2-year-old child was in the back seat during this incident.

Orach turned off Lower Smith Gap Road onto Covered Bridge Road and began to swerve off the roadway as he was assaulting the woman. The victim then opened the passenger side door and jumped out of the vehicle as Orach began to accelerate.

After the victim jumped out of the vehicle, Orach stopped the vehicle, got out and approached the victim, at which time he grabbed her and attempted to drag her back into the vehicle. Witnesses had stopped and asked the victim if she needed help, which she said she did.

Orach got back into his vehicle and fled the scene at a high rate of speed. A witness provided the registration for the black truck that Orach drove from the scene.

The victim was transported to St. Luke’s Lehighton Campus for further treatment.

Fedor left the scene and responded to a home in the 2100 block to make contact with Orach. Upon arrival, Fedor observed a black Dodge Ram in the driveway.

Fedor was not able to make contact with anyone at the residence, but saw blood on the front passenger seat and on a white piece of clothing between the front seats where the victim was seated during the incident.

The vehicle’s inspection expired in November.

In exchange for the plea, charges of endangering welfare of children; recklessly endangering another person; harassment; operating vehicle without valid driver’s license; disregard traffic lane (single); reckless driving and careless driving were dropped by the district attorney’s office.

Defense Attorney Paul J. Bender told the court since the incident Orach addressed a drug abuse problem by entering a long-term inpatient Salvation Army program. He was in the program for over six months.

Orach said the program was very helpful to him and recommended it. He said he has remained drug free and is working full time and regained custody of his son. He said he had limited contact with the victim, who is the mother of his child.

Matika told him, “You’ve done a lot of positive things since this incident.”

Matika placed him on probation for a year and ordered he render 50 hours of community service, supply a DNA sample, have no contact with the victim except in matters involving the son the two had together, get a drug and alcohol evaluation, pay court costs of over $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on probation.