State College contractor pleads guilty to stealing wages and benefits from employees
A Centre County contractor and business owner pleaded guilty Friday to intentionally withholding wages and benefits from his employees over a five-year period, Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor said in a statement.
Scott Good, 58, pleaded guilty in Clearfield County to five misdemeanor counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. His company, Goodco Mechanical, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of the white-collar crime.
Good agreed to pay more than $64,000 to resolve the charges, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.
“This guilty plea will help boost income for working Pennsylvanians and puts companies on notice that we will hold them accountable if they illegally underpay workers,” Shapiro said. “This kind of theft undercuts honest businesses and means thousands of people get less money than they are legally owed each and every payday. It’s wrong, it’s illegal, and my office is investigating wage theft to help everyone who has ever been cheated out of their full paycheck.”
Good, of State College, was charged in September 2019 after a 21-month statewide grand jury investigation. He was the first person in the Keystone State to be charged criminally of violating the state’s Prevailing Wage Act.
He was accused of underpaying employees who worked on a $16 million public works project for the state Department of Transportation in Clearfield County.
Good intentionally failed to pay workers properly by directing journeymen electricians and plumbers to record portions of their work as lower-paid workers, Shapiro said.
More than 200 charges were filed against Good and his company, including dozens of felonies. Most were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
“While we have significant disagreements with many of the charges, we were able to reach agreement with the office of attorney general on these six misdemeanor charges. We look forward to making a full presentation to (Clearfield County President) Judge (Fredric) Ammerman at sentencing,” defense lawyer Sarah Hyser-Staub wrote in a statement. “Mr. Good’s primary focus now is to ensure the continued operation of his business, which employs more than 40 people.”
Good is scheduled to be sentenced April 26.