A Monroe County man was recently sentenced to a state prison term after previously pleading guilty to charges related to sexual assault.

Scott Lakatos, 59, of Stroudsburg, was sentenced by President Judge Roger N. Nanovic II to serve one to five years in a state correctional institution on charges of unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of a minor, both felony 3 offenses.

In September 2022 Lakatos had a jury picked and was ready to go on trial when he changed his mind and instead pleaded guilty after accepting a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.

Lakatos lived in Palmerton when the incidents occurred then moved to Stroudsburg.

In exchange for the pleas, the district attorney’s office dropped felony 1 counts of rape of a child and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; and felony 2 counts of sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent and aggravated indecent assault - forcible compulsion; and two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and indecent assault without consent.

A jury was picked to hear the case on Sept. 12. After a delay from the scheduled 9 a.m. start, Nanovic told the jury panel there were several legal motions/matters he had to hold a hearing on which could take some hours. He apologized to the jury for the delay and said they were dismissed for the day and would return the next day to start the trial.

Later in the morning, after ruling on some of the motions, Lakatos and the commonwealth entered into an agreement for a guilty plea.

Lakatos was charged in August 2021 after an investigation by the Palmerton police determined he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy from May through July of 2021.

Lakatos was also ordered to submit to a sexual offenders evaluation, submit a DNA sample, have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, and pay court costs of over $1,000.

The sentences run concurrent to each other. He was given credit for 343 days already served. He reports to the county prison on Feb. 10 at 2:30 p.m. and then will be transferred to a state prison to serve the sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Brian B. Gazo was the prosecutor in the case, and Lakatos was represented by Attorney Eric Wiltrout of the public defenders office.