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Anthony Michael Rutch, 51, pleaded guilty on Nov. 4, 2024, to accidents involving death or personal injury and homicide by vehicle, prosecutors said.
At a hearing on Dec. 13, 2024, Lehigh County Judge Anna-Kristie M. Marks sentenced Rutch to 4 to 17 years in state prison for the death of 36-year-old Alexander Zarnas, authorities said.
The crash happened on March 9, 2021, at 5:06 p.m. on Mountain Road in Lower Macungie Township, where Pennsylvania State Police found Zarnas fatally struck by a black sedan that fled the scene, according to the DA’s office.
Zarnas, of Allentown, died from multiple blunt force injuries, and his death was ruled accidental by the Lehigh County Coroner, investigators said.
Witnesses reported seeing Rutch's damaged black sedan return to his home on Rittenhouse Road shortly after the crash, according to the DA. Police determined that Rutch had struck Zarnas while the victim was within his line of sight.
Zarnas graduated from Parkland High School in 2003 and went on to attend Bloomsburg University, where he helped found the Kappa Sigma Omicron Psi Chapter and graduated in 2007, according to his obituary published by Stephen's Funeral Home.
He survived by his wife and three young children according to a GoFundMe which raised over 21,000.
Rutch will serve his sentence in state prison, as ordered by Judge Marks.
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