Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

WILKES-BARRE — Another individual accused in the homicide of an Edwardsville man has pleaded guilty and was immediately sentenced to decades in prison.

Christopher Brian Cortez, 20, of Wilkes-Barre, pleaded guilty to a count of third degree murder stemming from the April 2019 stabbing death of Joseph Monka.

Cortez made the plea before Luzerne County Judge William H. Amesbury, who immediately sentenced Cortez to spend between 35 and 80 years in a state prison, according to a release from Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

Cortez had been accused in Monka’s death alongside Gabriella Elizabeth Long, 17, Devin Malik Cunningham, 21, and Mercedes Hall, 16.

Monka, Long’s grandfather with whom she resided, was found dead in his Edwardsville home in April 2019, with nearly $30,000 missing from his safe.

Cortez’s Thursday guilty plea is the second in the case, with Hall previously pleading guilty in December. She agreed to plead guilty on a count of third degree murder, with other charges being withdrawn by prosecutors, and agreed to testify against her co-defendants in upcoming proceedings.

As such, Hall’s sentencing is still forthcoming until the completion of the cases of the remaining co-defendants; she remains locked up.

According to police, after the group killed Monka, they ransacked his residence, stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his safe and fleeing in his 2016 Kia Soul.

The group then allegedly went to the Wyoming Valley Mall, where they used the money to buy new clothes, shoes and phones, changing in rest rooms at the food court.

Long, Hall and Cortez were found at the Red Roof Inn in Plains Township shortly after the discovery of Monka’s death; Cunningham was later located at his mother’s home in Fairfax, Va.

Long and Cunningham remain locked up, with trials still pending.

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan