Glenn O. Hawbaker waives first court appearance after criminal charges. Here’s what’s next
A major State College construction contractor accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from its workers waived its formal arraignment that was scheduled for Wednesday.
Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc.’s next court appearance is scheduled to be a pre-trial conference July 16. The company completed a waiver of formal arraignment at the time of the preliminary arraignment in April, the state attorney general’s office said.
The business was charged with systematically violating state and federal prevailing wage laws on taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects.
Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor called it a “massive, unprecedented fraud” and the largest case of its kind nationally.
The company stole more than $20 million from workers for more than three decades to undercut competitors, offset costs and fund company bonuses, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.
Hawbaker said it immediately changed its prevailing wage practices in 2018 after learning of the attorney general’s investigation. The business blamed its practices on bad advice from a former company lawyer, investigators wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
No executives were charged. The company was charged with four felony counts of theft.
The company, which is one of the largest employers in Centre County, was temporarily suspended from bidding on or participating in contracts for new state highway projects.
The suspension went into effect April 19 and is expected to continue for at least three months.
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 1:07 PM.