Carbon man given prison term after pleading guilty in five cases

A Carbon County man was sentenced to a county prison term after previously pleading guilty in five pending cases.

Leonard E. Rehatchek III, 28, of Nesquehoning was sentenced on Friday to serve a total of nine to one day less 24 months in prison followed by one year of probation by Judge Joseph J. Matika.

Rehatchek previously pleaded to counts of fleeing or eluding police, possession of drug paraphernalia, retail theft, theft, simple assault and criminal mischief.

Rehatchek was charged on Aug. 26, 2015, in Lansford in the area of 304 W. Patterson St., where police responded to a report of drug activity. He pleaded to the possession count for that incident.

The fleeing and eluding occurred on July 16, 2015, in Nesquehoning.

He was seen operating a vehicle and police knew he was under suspension. He fled along Route 54 with speeds reaching 100 mph before he was stopped.

He was originally charged with 15 counts, including 13 summary violations. In addition to the fleeing, he also pleaded to three summaries.

The retail theft occurred on Feb. 8, 2016, at Redner’s Warehouse Market in Nesquehoning.

When he was confronted by store security personnel after leaving the store without paying for some items, he made threats of bodily harm to the store security officer before fleeing in a vehicle. That led to the simple assault and retail theft charges.

The theft occurred on Jan. 7, 2016, when he removed two rifles from a property in the 300 block of West Catawissa Street, Nesquehoning.

The mischief occurred on Oct. 30, 2016, involving damages to property. A simple assault charge was dropped in a plea bargain.

Rehatchek told Matika, “I take full responsibility for my actions. I made the decisions, no one else did.”

Rehatchek entered rehabilitation programs but didn’t complete them and admitted to relapsing on drug use.

Matika told him, “You have got to right your ship!”

In addition to the prison term, Matika ordered Rehatchek to get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, zero tolerance for drug and alcohol use, supply a DNA sample, make total restitution of $983, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole and probation and when released on parole render a total of 100 hours of community service. On a summary mischief count he was fined $100 and costs.

He was given credit for 96 days spent in jail on the charges.