A hit-and-run driver who killed a 12-year-old southern New Jersey boy last year is now facing up to seven years in prison.

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Ocean County prosecutors say 40-year-old Jesus Arellano-Carmoni of Lakewood pleaded guilty Monday to leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

The charge stemmed from a Dec. 16 accident in which Edward Juarez was struck and killed while walking to his family's apartment in Lakewood.

Arellano-Carmoni was arrested about a week later, after police conducted a road block near the accident scene. They soon learned a van -- covered by a tarp -- had been parked at a nearby home since the night the accident occurred.

Arellano-Carmoni is due to be sentenced May 25.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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