A Luzerne County man was sentenced to a long state prison term on Monday afternoon on drug dealing and assault charges.

Judge Steven R. Serfass sentenced Joshua Ynoe Mejia, 25, of Hazleton, to serve a total of 42 to 144 months in a state correctional institution on charges of criminal conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance - heroin; and simple assault on a inmate at the county prison.Prior to the sentencing proceeding on the drug count, which Mejia previously entered a guilty plea, he pleaded to the assault count for an incident on Sept. 20, 2016, at the county prison where he was one of six inmates who entered the cell of another inmate and assaulted him causing serious injuries.In a plea bargain, a charge of aggravated assault was dropped.Video surveillance at the prison showed that Mejia entered the cell briefly while the assault was occurring then acted as "look out."On Monday, Mejia claimed he did not enter the cell, but only acted at the look out despite what the video showed.In the drug case, he was of 11 defendants arrested in a drug trafficking ring that was labeled "Operation 93 Pipeline."The name given the operation was because authorities said the defendants would go to the Luzerne County area and get heroin then return to Carbon, using Route 93.Arrested with Mejia were Matteo Puddu, Curtis Margle, Jason R. Will, David A. Anthony and Brittany Michele Vincent, all of Carbon County; Erik Feliz, Bradesky Santos Jr., Anthony Jordan Vega, all of Luzerne County; Cynthia Ann Hippenstiel of Columbia County; and Robert Alan Fox of Bucks County.The state Attorney General's office, along with the Carbon County Drug Task Force, charged the 11 for their part in a drug trafficking operation allegedly responsible for distributing $1.5 million worth of heroin in Carbon County over a four-month period. The time frame for the operation was December 2014 to March 2015.Several other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.Mejia expressed remorse, adding, "I made a lot of bad choices. I would like to try and make something of myself."The AG's office, in a presentence investigation report, indicated that the group was distributing heroin throughout the area not only Carbon County and it contributed to the heroin epidemic prevailing in the country. The report called it a serious crime.Mejia asked that the drug sentence and the assault term run concurrent, but Serfass rejected that request.In addition to the prison term, Serfass ordered Mejia to get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, supply and DNA sample, get his General Education Diploma before he is paroled and pay court costs of about $1,000.Serfass imposed a state term of 36 to 120 months on the drug count and 6 to 24 months on the assault count with the terms running consecutively.Mejia, who has been in prison since his arrest on the drug count in March 2015, was given credit for 852 days already spent in prison on the charges.