CLEARFIELD – A State College man who pleaded guilty to underpaying his workers is now asking a judge to reconsider his jail sentence.
On April 26, Scott Cameron Good, 58, a Centre County contractor, was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to serve a total of 120 days to two years less four days plus three years consecutive probation for five counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds.
At the time of sentencing, Good apologized to everyone impacted by his actions and appeared ready to accept responsibility.
He asked for a delayed commitment to make arrangements with his company and to have time to apply for work release. Ammerman ordered him to report to the jail on May 18.
During court on Friday to hear arguments on a post-sentence motion in the case, Ammerman noted that before Good was to begin his sentence, an appeal was filed and his sentence stayed pending a decision on that action.
In addition, Good’s attorney, Sarah Ann Hyser-Staub, filed a post-sentence motion to modify his jail sentence.
She reminded Ammerman that Good had no prior record, had paid restitution in full of over $64,000, and numerous people had written letters in support of him.
She asked Ammerman to re-sentence Good, giving him only a probationary period instead of serving time in the county jail.
The issue in the appeal is that the sentence given was illegal, Ammerman stated.
“How can you ask me to modify an illegal sentence then?” he added. “I’m confused. A probationary sentence would still be illegal.”
Patrick Schulte of the PA’s Attorney General’s office, who was representing the commonwealth stated that Good’s sentence was not illegal and he had been charged with criminal theft and not anything that would fall under a civil statue as the lawsuit claims.
He also explained that as they were preparing for trial, the defense attorneys for Good approached the prosecution and the plea was actually “their idea.”
Good signed the plea, agreeing that he understood the possible sentence. “This is a standard range sentence,” Schulte said.
Earlier in the case, Ammerman explained, there was already an issue about his crimes being covered under the prevailing wage act, which the superior court would not even hear.
“I feel like this is a bait and switch,” Ammerman said, questioning whether this was ethical.
Meanwhile, the money Good paid in restitution is being held pending the appeal and the victims are still not being compensated.
Ammerman made no decision on the motion of reconsideration of sentence for Good, putting a stay on it until the appeal is completed.
According to a previous press release from Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Good was charged after a grand jury investigation discovered he had underpaid his employees in wages and benefits for five years.
“The charges are the result of a 21-month Statewide Grand Jury investigation that originated from allegations of theft of wages and benefits from employees on a $16 million public works project in Clearfield County for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 2014.”
The investigation found that Good and his company, Goodco Mechanical Inc. “violated prevailing wage laws by underpaying wages and claiming unlawful benefits credits on the Clearfield County PennDOT project, as well as other prevailing wage projects since at least 2010.”
It is no surprise there was an appeal filed in this case. Shortly after sentencing in April, Hyser-Staub issued a statement to the media declaring “Good should be on probation, not in jail.”
