Former Carbon man resentenced after being expelled from state program

A former Carbon County man was resentenced in the county court Monday after he was expelled from a state program for drug addiction.

Dylan Joseph Lavecchia, 23, of Lebanon, formerly of Lansford, appeared before Judge Steven R. Serfass on drug counts, corruption of a minor and identity theft charges.

Serfass previously placed Lavecchia in the state Intermediate Punishment Program for two years.

Lavecchia completed almost all of the program including spending about seven months in a state correction institution and time in an intensive inpatient drug rehab program.

While he was out in a halfway house living in Lebanon, he got arrested on a new criminal count. That triggered his dismissal from the state IPP.

Lavecchia previously entered pleas to two counts each of access device fraud and theft, and one count each of corruption of a minor, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The access device and theft counts stem from an Aug. 12, 2014, incident in Palmerton in which he used a stolen credit card to make purchases involving three victims. He was previously placed in the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition probation program but was revoked based on new criminal charges.

The corruption count stems from an Aug. 6, 2015, incident when state police responded to an underage drinking party report in Franklin Township. Troopers said Lavecchia admitted buying beer for the party which had minors attending. The drug counts stem from a March 7 incident filed by Lehighton police following a vehicle stop in which various drugs were found in the vehicle operated by Lavecchia.

The paraphernalia charge stems from an incident on May 26, 2017, filed by Lansford police for an incident in the 100 block of East Patterson Street.

Serfass resentenced him to serve a total of five to 18 months in a state prison followed by six months probation, pay a fine of $300, pay court costs of about $1,000, and when released on parole render 200 hours of community service. He was given credit for 513 days spent in prison on the charges.

He will be returned to the state prison at Mahanoy, Schuylkill County, where he is subject to release by the state board of parole.