A Delaware County man is headed to Schuylkill County Prison after being sentenced Thursday for stealing wire in March 2013 in West Brunswick Township.
Joseph R. Driscoll, 37, of Clifton Heights, must spend six to 23 months behind bars, President Judge William E. Baldwin ruled. The judge made the sentence effective at 9 a.m. May 5.
Baldwin, who also sentenced Driscoll to pay costs and $1,999.53 restitution, rejected the recommendations by both Assistant District Attorney James P. Flagella and the defense that Driscoll spend time on probation instead of in prison.
"I don't think probation is appropriate," Baldwin said. "He's still committing crimes."
Driscoll pleaded guilty on Jan. 24 to conspiracy, theft and false identification to law enforcement.
State police at Schuylkill Haven had charged him with cutting and taking the wire on March 14, 2013.
"He knows he took wire that didn't belong to him," William Davis Jr., Media, Driscoll's lawyer, said of his client. "He's extremely remorseful."
However, Baldwin became upset when Driscoll tried to minimize what he had done.
"I'm not buying this. You were stealing it," Baldwin told Driscoll. "You're just digging the hole deeper."
Baldwin also said Driscoll has similar charges pending in Montgomery County.
Driscoll told Baldwin he feared what might happen to his family if he went to prison, but the judge had little sympathy for that argument.
"Stop committing crimes if you're worried about your family," he told Driscoll.