A Jim Thorpe man will serve 36 to 72 months in state prison for his role in a two-car crash that claimed the lives of three people from New Jersey in Penn Forest Township in 2021.

Brett Knoll, 41, appeared Thursday morning before Carbon County Judge Steven R. Serfass who sentenced him to 12- to 24-month consecutive terms on each of three counts of homicide by vehicle.

He was also sentenced to eight to 24 months on one felony count of aggravated assault by vehicle, which will run concurrently to the sentence on the three counts of vehicular homicide.

His driving privileges were also suspended for 36 months on the vehicular homicide charges and 12 months on the aggravated assault charge.

Knoll pleaded guilty and had been free on $100,000 unsecured bail. The sentence was imposed immediately.

The crash happened Aug. 7, 2021 on Route 903 at Interstate 476, the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

State police determined that Knoll was driving his black Jeep Cherokee at an excessive speed that created a hazard, and the Jeep’s speed was the primary contributing factor in the collision.

Knoll’s Jeep collided with a red Toyota Camry driven by Bryan Nissen, 30, of Morris Plains, New Jersey, who was headed north on Route 903 and attempted to turn left onto I-476 North.

Knoll was driving southbound on Route 903 “in a careless disregard for the safety of persons or property” when the two vehicles collided, troopers said.

Nissen and Knoll were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest following the crash. Three passengers in Nissen’s vehicle died.

Joseph William Riggio Jr., 30, of Parlin, New Jersey, was thrown from the vehicle, and Nicholas Nissen, 25, of South Amboy, New Jersey, was partially ejected from the vehicle. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The third passenger, Michael Guezara, 31, of Bayonne, New Jersey, was flown to Geisinger Medical Center, where he died.

State police charged Knoll in April 2022, eight months after the crash.