Carbon County court

A Carbon County woman entered guilty pleas in three pending criminal cases on Thursday in the county court.

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

Thefts

Amy Louise Steigerwalt, 33, of Lehighton, pleaded to one count each of retail theft, as a felony, receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine.

She was arrested for retail theft on June 18, 2018, by Lansford police at the Rite Aid pharmacy along West Bertsch Street. The receiving count stems from an incident on May 31, 2018, at the Family Dollar Store, North First Street in Lehighton. In that case a retail theft charge was dropped in a plea bargain. The drug count stems from an incident on May 31, 2018, at Beltzville State Park in Towamensing Township. Park rangers found her in a vehicle with illegal drugs. She was a passenger in the vehicle.

Steigerwalt told the court she addressed a drug addiction problem by entering a inpatient rehabilitation program.

On the retail theft Serfass sentenced her to time-served (203 days, which includes time in jail and the inpatient program) up to one day less 24 months. On the receiving count she was sentenced to serve one to 12 months in prison, concurrent with the first count. On the drug charge she was placed on probation for a year, consecutive to the other counts.

She was also ordered to get a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendation for treatment, supply a DNA sample and render a total of 200 hours of community service.

Other pleas

Patricia A. Hutta, 56, of Lehighton, pleaded to one count of retail theft, as a felony.

She was arrested on May 20 by Lehighton police at the Rite Aid pharmacy.

Serfass placed her on probation for 24 months and ordered her to get a mental health evaluation, continue her current counseling program, supply a DNA sample and render 100 hours of community service.

Matthew Scott Creveling, 31, of Lansford, pleaded to one count of access device fraud.

He was arrested by Lansford police on June 14 for using the bank card of a borough resident without his permission.

Creveling is currently an inmate in the county prison. Sentencing was deferred.

Jeffrey Handwerk, 51, of Bowmanstown, pleaded to one count of theft of property lost.

He was charged by Mahoning Township police for an incident at the Walmart store on Feb. 26. A woman used the self-checkout area. She used her credit card to pay for her purchases and requested an additional $40 cash. The woman left the store without the $40. Handwerk was the next at the checkpoint, found the $40, and used it to pay for his items. The money has been repaid.

Serfass placed Handwerk on probation for three months.

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