The driver in a fatal 2024 hit-and-run crash in Bethlehem was sentenced Thursday to state prison, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced.
Jose Vladmir Jerez, 25, of Allentown, pleaded guilty June 10 to felony counts of homicide by vehicle and leaving an accident involving death or personal injury, as well as to forgery in an unrelated case.
Lehigh County Judge James Anthony sentenced Jerez to six to 17 years in state prison.
The crash occurred shortly before 6:50 p.m. Oct. 13, 2024, in the 700 block of Central Boulevard in West Bethlehem.
Investigators said the victim, 20-year-old Ezequiel Hernandez-Cartagena, of Allentown, was at a park in Allentown with others when he got into a car driven by a man known only by the nickname Los Ten, later identified by authorities as Jerez.
Witnesses told police the car made an erratic movement during an attempt to pass another vehicle, struck a utility pole and went up an embankment.
“Jerez then fled the wreckage while the victim yelled for help and beeped the horn,” Holihan’s office said in a news release Thursday. “The witnesses then drove the victim to the hospital.”
Hernandez-Cartagena was pronounced dead that night at the hospital of his injuries.
Police said they found the car unoccupied and that it was registered to a Bethlehem woman, who they determined was not involved in the crash.
Investigators said they found blood in the car and that DNA testing linked Jerez to the vehicle. Police charged him in July 2025.
Bethlehem police officer Andrew DeFrank investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney V. Paul Bernardino III.
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