ST. CLAIRSVILLE – The woman accused of stabbing a Bellaire McDonald’s employee will spend the next four to six years in prison.

Aryan Summer Alvarez, 30, was sentenced to that term after pleading guilty Monday to one charge of felonious assault in Belmont County Common Pleas Court. Alvarez was arrested in April on charges of stabbing a McDonald’s employee multiple times, leaving him with a puncture wound on the left side of his body.

Alvarez appeared via Zoom call from the Belmont County Jail while Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Norman and her lawyer, Belmont County Public Defender Aaron Miller, appeared before Common Pleas Judge John Vavra. The plea agreement saw the removal of Alvarez’s one charge of drug possession.

Before Vavra accepted the plea agreement, he asked Alvarez if she understood the details of the agreement.

“As of right now, you are facing two charges. The first is called felonious assault. It is a second degree felony, and that means the maximum penalty is a minimum term between two and eight years being the maximum. Under Ohio law, once the court picks that minimum term, it also decides what’s called the maximum term. The maximum is defined as the minimum plus one half of the minimum,” Vavra said. “Worst-case scenario, the maximum is eight to 12 years in a women’s prison. Now, the attorneys have advised that the agreement is for a minimum term of four years, which means the maximum is four plus half of four to eight.”

Alvarez was due in court next Monday for a plea agreement deadline but both Norman and Miller petitioned the court to move the hearing to Monday due to both parties agreeing on a resolution.

Vavra asked Norman if the agreement stipulated any restitution to the victim. He replied that due to the victim not returning various forms of contact to the victim that the state is not seeking restitution for the victim.