Two former seafood processors have pleaded guilty to fatally beating their co-worker in Unalaska.
Instead of going through another trial, Denison Soria and Leonardo Bongolto, Jr., will serve 40 to 70 months in prison for the death of Jonathan Adams. He passed away after a fight at the Bering Fisheries bunkhouse in 2012.
Defense attorneys painted Adams’ death as an accident during a trial in Unalaska last fall. The jury acquitted Soria, 43, and Bongolto, 37, of second-degree murder, but they couldn’t reach a verdict on lesser charges of assault, manslaughter, and negligent homicide. A new trial was set for this month.
But on Friday, Soria and Bongolto pleaded guilty to aggravated, criminally negligent homicide. That’s a B felony, which usually carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
The defendants could also face probation and suspended jail time under the conditions of their plea agreement.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Douglass said the deal ”sends a message to the community of Unalaska that the court is paying attention to crimes that might occur down there as a result of alcohol.”
Soria and Bongolto were allegedly drinking the night of the fight three years ago. They’ve been incarcerated ever since.
Both men will be brought to Unalaska for formal sentencing on July 9.
This story originates from KDLG Public Radio and was published with permission.