State College business owner sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to withholding wages
The owner of a State College mechanical contracting company who pleaded guilty to intentionally withholding tens of thousands of dollars from his workers is set to go to jail.
Goodco Mechanical owner Scott Good, 58, was sentenced Monday by Clearfield County President Judge Fredric Ammerman to at least four months in the Clearfield County Jail. He’s scheduled to report May 18.
His maximum sentence is two years minus four days. Good was also sentenced to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service. His business was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
”The days when companies could screw over workers and not be held accountable to the law are over. If employers steal from their workers, through misclassification or violations of the prevailing wage, we will act,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement. “My office is committed — with our partners in law enforcement — to make sure working Pennsylvanians receive the wages and benefits owed to them under the law.”
Good was accused in September 2019 of systematically violating the state’s prevailing wage law on taxpayer-funded public infrastructure projects.
The prosecution was unprecedented. Good was the first to be charged criminally for violating the nearly 60-year-old state law.
Defense lawyer Sarah Hyser-Staub criticized Ammerman’s ruling, writing in a statement that she and Good “vehemently disagree” with his decision. State prosecutors did not argue for a jail sentence.
”Scott is a good man who is ready to move forward, with a goal of continuing to build and enrich the community he loves so dearly,” Hyser-Staub said. “The success of his company and the livelihoods of some 40 community members employed there depend upon Scott’s steadfast leadership and his commitment to personal and professional excellence.”
The state attorney general’s office said Good underpaid workers by more than $64,000 and claimed unlawful benefits to reduce labor costs and undercut competitors.
State prosecutors said the company engaged in the unlawful behavior for at least a decade, but time limits for criminal charges restricted the allegations to the past five years. The 21-month grand jury investigation began in 2014.
Good and his company pleaded guilty in March to six misdemeanor counts of theft. He repaid the money as part of the plea agreement.
Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe was one of more than 40 people who wrote a letter to Ammerman seeking leniency.
Good agreed to advise Centre County Correctional Facility inmates about the opportunities presented by careers in technical trades in exchange for the letter. Pipe never received a campaign donation from Good or his company, he said.
Hyser-Staub pushed for probation instead of jail time, saying it would help keep Good’s business afloat. It’s premature to discuss a potential appeal, she said.
The company employed about 53 people annually over the past five years with an average salary of nearly $51,000, she wrote in an 11-page memo to Ammerman.
”Scott should be free on probation so that he can continue to do more good in Centre County — both as a loving and devoted family man and as a civic leader within the community,” Hyser-Staub said. “That is our goal, and that should be the goal of the court.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 3:53 PM.