An Allentown man was sentenced to six to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to a 2024 fatal crash in Bethlehem, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced Thursday.
Jose Vladmir Jerez, 25, was charged with homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death or personal injury, and forgery. As part of the plea deal, the remaining charges were dropped. The forgery charge was unrelated to the crash, Holihan said.
Jerez was sentenced by Judge James T. Anthony. He will serve the sentence in state prison.
The Oct. 13, 2024, crash in the 700 block of Central Boulevard resulted in the death of Ezequiel Hernandez-Cartagena, 20, of Allentown.
Bethlehem police found a sedan, which was registered to a Bethlehem woman not involved in the crash, up an embankment in woods on the north side of the road just before 7 p.m. The car had hit a utility pole and sustained significant damage. There was blood in the car, but no one was in it at the time, authorities said.
A short time later police were notified that a man who had been in a crash — later identified as Hernandez-Cartagena — had been brought to a hospital emergency room. He died from his injuries.
Police determined that Hernandez-Cartagena and a group of people were at an Allentown park before the crash with a man they only knew by the nickname “Los Ten,” who was later identified as Jerez, according to Holihan.
Witnesses said before the crash, they saw Jerez making an erratic movement to attempt to pass a vehicle in front of him when he lost control of the car. Jerez’s car hit the utility pole and went up the embankment, according to Holihan.
Jerez then fled while Hernandez-Cartagena yelled for help and beeped the horn, Holihan said. The witnesses then drove the Hernandez-Cartagena to the hospital.
Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio determined Hernandez-Cartagena’s death was due to blunt force injuries from a motor vehicle collision and his death was ruled accidental.
The case was investigated by Bethlehem police officer Andrew DeFrank and was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney V. Paul Bernardino III.