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

PHILADELPHIA — A man convicted of helping two other men escape from prison while serving time for a deadly brawl between football fans outside a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant has been sentenced in both cases.

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

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

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

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

Authorities said neither suspect was among the primary aggressors. Assistant District Attorney Ed Jaramillo said two other men seen on surveillance video pulling trash can lids and beating victims who tried to get up were never caught, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

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

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