A Northampton County man pleaded guilty in Carbon County court on Monday to an obstruction count.

He was one of eight defendants in pending criminal cases to enter a guilty plea before Judge Steven R. Serfass.

Lehighton incident

Nicholas Joseph Yonak, 42, of Freemansburg, pleaded to one count each of obstruction in the administration of law and a summary offense of driving with a suspended license. In exchange for the plea the district attorney’s office dropped a count of possession of a prohibitive offensive weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was arrested on Aug. 29 by Lehighton police at a service station along Route 443. He was operating a motorcycle without an inspection sticker.

When confronted he refused to give police any information.

Serfass placed him on probation for 24 months and ordered he get a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendation for treatment and render 100 hours of community service.

On the summary offense he was fined $200.

Other pleas

Gabriel Antonio Rivera, 22, of Coaldale, pleaded to one count of accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property and summary offenses of using improper class of license (operating a motorcycle without a proper license), driving at a unsafe speed, no insurance, driving an unregistered vehicle and disregard of traffic signal. In all, he was charged with 11 counts including unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

He was arrested on April 26, by state police at Lehighton along Route 903 in Penn Forest Township. He took a bike without permission and then crashed. He abandoned the bike at the crash scene.

Rivera is an inmate in the county prison on other pending charges.

On the first count Serfass sentenced Rivera to time-served (15 days) to six months and ordered he render 25 hours of community service. On the remaining summary counts he was fined a total of $625.

Timothy Lawrence Ladd, 28, of Wyoming, Luzerne County, pleaded in two pending cases to one count each of persistent disorderly conduct. At the start of the proceeding the commonwealth agree to change the plea from harassment to the conduct counts.

Ladd was arrested on Sept. 17 and Dec. 18, 2021, by Jim Thorpe police for repeatedly sending emails, voice mail and other types of contact to a female resident after being told not to have any contact with her.

On the first count Serfass sentenced Ladd to time-served (13 days) to 12 months in prison and on the second count one year probation, consecutive to the first count.

He was also ordered to have no contact with the victim and render a total of 100 hours of community service.

Stanley Ervin Haydt, 52, of Lehighton, pleaded to one count of possession of drug paraphernalia with a count of possession of a controlled substance dropped in a plea deal. He was arrested on Sept. 1 by state police at Lehighton following a traffic stop in Weissport.

Haydt is an inmate at the state correctional institution at Laurel Highlands, Somerset County, serving a one to two year term for retail theft imposed by Schuylkill County court.

Serfass placed him on probation for a year and ordered he get a drug and alcohol evaluation. The term runs concurrent with the Schuylkill sentence.

Veranique Sophia Oquendo, 29, of Bethlehem, pleaded to one count each of possession of a controlled substance - methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was arrested on May 6, 2021, by state police at Lehighton following a traffic stop. She was originally charged with 13 counts with charges of DUI, three counts of possession and five counts of paraphernalia dropped in a plea deal.

She was placed on probation for a year and ordered to get a drug and alcohol evaluation and render 50 hours of community service.

Robert R. Schmoyer, 36, of Bangor, pleaded to one count of possession of a controlled substance. In a plea deal a felony count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance was dropped.

He was arrested on May 4, 2017. by agents of the state attorney general’s office in Palmerton. He was found in possession of crystal methamphetamine.

Serfass sentenced to time-served (30 days) to 18 months in prison and ordered he get a drug and alcohol evaluation, zero tolerance imposed for drug or alcohol use and render 75 hours of community service.

Jeremiah Rahsea Robbins, 35, of Bethlehem, pleaded to one count of DUI of a controlled substance. He was arrested on April 12, 2021, by state police at Lehighton along Route 902 in Summit Hill.

Sentencing was deferred so he can obtain a drug and alcohol evaluation.

Brittany Nicole Smith, 32, of Palmerton, pleaded to one count of furnishing drug free urine. She was arrested on Aug. 24 when she appeared at the office of the adult probation to give a urine sample and attempted to give a “clean” one using a device for that purpose.

She was placed on probation for a year and ordered to render 50 hours of community service.

Each defendant sentenced must also pay court costs of over $1,000 and a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole or probation.