HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Philadelphia man who gained notoriety by escaping a year ago from the Blair County Prison through a ventilation shaft was sentenced Thursday to 19.5- to 47-years’ incarceration, with the majority of that time for drug-trafficking offenses.

Isaiah R. Tilghman Jr., who entered guilty pleas in September on the day his jury trial was to begin, apologized in court and asked Judge Jackie Bernard for leniency in considering that he grew up without a father and depended on the wrong people for guidance.

“I did not picture my life like this,” the 34-year-old Tilghman told the judge. “For everything I’ve done, I wish I could take it back.”

District Attorney Pete Weeks asked Bernard to hand down a minimum sentence of 48-years’ incarceration, based on Tilghman’s criminal history and the quantity of drugs he brought to Altoona in May 2023. That’s when the U.S. Marshal’s and drug law enforcement officers tracked Tilghman to a room rented at the Altoona Grand Hotel, followed by a joint effort to find and arrest him and to recover the fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine he intended to sell.

“I stand by the sentence I requested,” Weeks said outside court Thursday. “This is a professional drug dealer. He had 17,572.5 doses of fentanyl with xylazine … the largest amount of fentanyl ever seized in Blair County.”

Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi tried to convince Bernard that a sentence of 10- to 20-years’ incarceration would be appropriate in light of an initial offer of seven-years’ incarceration for a guilty plea to possession with intent to deliver. But Weeks said that offer was made before Tilghman’s suspected cocaine was identified as fentanyl and before Tilghman escaped from the county prison.

Anastasi also tried to influence the length of the sentence by reminding the judge that her client accepted responsibility for his actions instead of going to trial. She also pointed out that Tilghman’s criminal history has no violent offenses such as assaults, firearm convictions, sex crimes or crimes against children.

Bernard, upon hearing Tilghman’s remorseful remarks, told him she appreciated that he’s reconsidering his prior decisions. But she also told him that his decisions and actions are contributing factors to serious consequences.

Court documents indicate that Tilghman’s crimes started with the burglary of a vacant house when he was 14 years old, followed by adult crimes that included robbery, theft and drug-trafficking offenses leading to two state prison sentences before he was arrested in Altoona.

“When I look at the crimes you’ve committed, those crimes do not warrant a 10-year minimum sentence,” Bernard told the defendant. “We’re talking about a series of significant criminal actions.”

In lobbying for a minimum sentence of almost five decades, Weeks maintained that Tilghman’s criminal history offered “a significant body of evidence to show that he has no interest in rehabilitation.”

Anastasi said after court concluded that she was glad that Bernard “acknowledged the complexity of the circumstances when fashioning the sentence and rejecting Weeks’ request of 48 to 96 years, which would have ensured that (Tilghman) likely died in jail.”

Based on the imposed sentence and credit for 14 months of incarceration, Tilghman will be in his early 50s when he becomes eligible to seek release.

Bernard indicated that the sentence of 19.5- to 47-years’ incarceration was warranted based on the amount of drugs. The judge also said she understood Weeks’ request for a lengthy sentence, but believed the imposed time provides protection for the community and potential for Tilghman’s rehabilitation.

“I hope you see this sentence as a chance to start anew,” Bernard told Tilghman.

In handing down the sentence, the judge imposed a mix of consecutive and concurrent sentences applicable to the 13 charges to which he pleaded guilty.

The consecutive sentences were: 15 to 30 years for possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, one to three years for criminal use of a communications facility, 18 months to seven years for escape from the county prison and two to seven years for theft of the truck that Tilghman drove to Philadelphia after escaping from prison.

Concurrent sentences included: 15 to 30 years for criminal conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, six to 12 years for possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and six to 12 years for possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

Anastasi tried to convince the judge that Tilghman’s escape from the county prison reflected his inability to deal with the poor conditions in the aged facility that regularly generates complaints about heating, air conditioning, plumbing and as reported this summer, an increase in rodents.

Bernard rejected those arguments and told Tilghman that his escape — by using a homemade rope of prison clothing inside a ventilation shaft to get to an unsecured window and the roof — reflected the time he spent planning how to get out of the facility.

“I didn’t have 100 other inmates escaping from those same conditions that you were in,” the judge said.

Because Tilghman’s absence initially went unnoticed inside the prison, the county subsequently fired five corrections offices.

Tilghman, who got into Lakemont where he stole the truck, drove to Philadelphia and abandoned it.

Tilghman remained at large until March when U.S. Marshals took him into custody. After being returned to Blair County, arrangements were made to house Tilghman at a state prison while his charges were pending.