Man sentenced in prison break and fatal brawl among soccer fans outside cheesesteak shop

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man convicted of helping two other men escape prison while he was in custody over a fatal brawl among soccer fans outside a famed Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant has been sentenced in both cases.

Court documents indicate that Jose Flores-Huerta, 36, was sentenced in the escape case Thursday to 11½ months to 23 months plus probation.

Flores-Huerta was convicted of helping Ameen Hurst, 18, and Nasir Grant, 24, who cut a hole in a fence surrounding a recreation yard at the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center in May 2023.

Hurst and Grant were gone for nearly 19 hours before officials knew they were missing. Both were recaptured days later; Hurst was being held in four homicides and other crimes, authorities said.

Flores-Huerta and Omar Arce, 35, also pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault in a fatal beating outside Pat’s King of Steaks in September 2021, as soccer fans brawled following a match. A 28-year-old New York accountant, Isidro Cortes, was killed and his father and another man were hospitalized.

Authorities said neither defendant was considered among the main aggressors. Assistant District Attorney Ed Jaramillo said two other men seen on surveillance videos using trash can lids and beating victims struggling to stand up have never been caught, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Both defendants were sentenced to 11½ months to 23 months plus five years’ probation for their roles in the brawl and eligible for immediate release on parole. Arce’s attorney, James Funt, said in court that his client will likely be deported to Mexico, the Inquirer reported.

Both defendants expressed remorse as they spoke briefly through an interpreter. Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott O’Keefe told relatives of the victim that he’s “terribly sorry” for their loss, which he said was over something “incredibly stupid,” the newspaper reported.