Four charged for roles in fight last August

Four Carbon County men have been charged for their roles in a fight at a party at last August.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by police officer Corey Frey of the Mahoning Township Police Department:

At around 5:10 p.m. Aug. 11, Frey received a report of an assault that had occurred the night before at a party along Semmels Hill Road.

The victims, a 15-year-old teen and his brother were injured during the assault and had to be treated at the hospital.

One of the victims was treated in the St. Luke’s Lehighton Emergency Room for second-degree burns to the back of his right leg from above his knee to his ankle.

The other victim required surgery to wire his jaw shut and also needed stitches in the back of his head to close a laceration.

Police charged four men identified as Aric Fox, 20, of Summit Hill; Lucas Mika, 21, of Jim Thorpe; Alexander Candelario, 19, of Lansford; and Justin Rodriguez, 19, of Lansford, involved in the assault.

The following day, police talked to a 16-year-old female witness who said she was at the party when someone messaged her asking for the address.

She said the man said he was with one other person. However, two carloads of people showed up, 10 males and two females.

The witness said everything was fine at first, and all of a sudden she saw one of the victims on the ground with three or four men on top of him punching and kicking him.

The witness later identified two of the men, one of whom was Mika, and said that the other victim got involved to help his brother and that is when he got punched.

The witness was unsure how many times the other victim was punched. She ran inside to get her friend, but when they came back outside the fight was over and everyone involved had left.

The witness was asked to look at photo lineups Frey had created, and she identified the men. On Aug. 13, the two victims came to the station to speak with the officers regarding the assault and said that while at the party, a kid came up to him, asking “who the kid from Allentown was.”

The one victim said that as soon as he said, “yeah, why,” he got hit on the side and back of his head and was unsure who initially hit him.

The victim said that after being struck he fell and hit his head, and that while on the ground, he continued to get hit and stomped on.

He said he was able to get to his feet and walk away toward his car, and after being shown the photo lineups including the suspects in the assault, identified two of the defendants, one of which was Mika, as one of the men who assaulted him.

A female victim said she had attended the party and was attacked by four males at the same time, but was able to tackle one of the males but then covered herself up.

She was shown the photo lineups and identified one of the males who assaulted her.

The other victim said that he went to the party with his cousin, and that when the fight started, he stepped in to help his brother and was hit from out of nowhere.

He said that after being struck, he blacked out and woke up on the ground with someone punching him, and that after getting off the ground he was helped to the car.

He was also shown the photo lineups where he identified one of the men involved in the assault, but that he did not see who hit him.

One of the victims was seen at St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten, where he presented with second-degree burns on his leg and was treated for the injuries and released. He was referred to the Lehigh Valley Health Network Burn Center for follow-up treatment.

The other victim was initially seen at Gnaden Huetten but later transferred to St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus. He had a broken jaw, which required surgery. He also had a cut to the head and received two staples for this injury.

All four suspects face charges of aggravated assault and simple assault.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled for March 18 before District Judge Casimir T. Kosciolek of Lansford.

Mika is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 cash.

Fox, Candelario and Rodriguez are all free in lieu of $50,000 unsecured bail.