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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Hollidaysburg man was ordered Thursday to pay $121,199 in restitution to address several local burglaries, thefts and damages leading to his November arrest.
Blair County President Judge Elizabeth A. Doyle sentenced Dylon Shane Gardner, 27, to three to six years' incarceration with the possibility of entering into the state's Drug Treatment Program, followed by 10 years' probation.
District Attorney Pete Weeks, who asked Doyle to consider consecutive sentences addressing each of the six burglary locations, said he was satisfied with the sentence.
"I think she took into account the impact on the victims and their businesses," he said.
Doyle assigned standard range sentences of nine to 18 months incarceration for each of four felony burglary offenses, then imposed five-year probationary sentences for each of two additional felony burglary offenses.
Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi, who spoke of Gardner's lack of criminal record, asked for a county prison sentence with participation in a drug treatment program. She said his burglaries reflected 10 months of methamphetamine use.
Gardner, who turned and looked at the victims of his burglaries, apologized and told them: "I was hanging out with the wrong group of people."
Michele Bennett, manager at Penn Turf, a tire recycling center, said her business was initially burglarized in early 2022.
Even after purchasing a new surveillance camera system, Bennett said it was burglarized three more times, prompting employees to start driving by the grounds when they weren't working.
"We had to turn the place into a fortress," she said.
Bennett was also one of the employees who hid hammers, pipes and tools in areas where they could be accessed for defense.
When Doyle sentenced Gardner, she told him she appreciated the apology he rendered. But she also spoke of the psychological damage his actions caused.
"They hid pipes in the bathroom in case you came in there and they had to bash you on the head to protect themselves," the judge said.
Justin Spessard of JLS Construction said he spent thousands to replace stolen tools so he could stay in business and repair the damage to his buildings, trucks and trailers.
"I don't think the incarceration time he got was enough punishment to address what he did," Spessard said after the sentencing hearing concluded.
Bennett offered a similar sentiment.
"I didn't expect (the judge) to throw away the key," Bennett said. "But I think the jail time could have been more substantial."
Weeks praised state police at Hollidaysburg, along with police in Allegheny and Blair townships, for working together and with his office on an investigation that required multiple search warrants.
"The police officers, especially state police and State Police Lt. Matthew Bonin, used a lot of advanced (computerized) techniques to figure out who was doing these break-ins," Weeks said.
When police arrested and charged Gardner in November, they also arrested and charged Scott Jones, 25, of Hollidaysburg, as a co-defendant in thefts at JLS Construction.
Jones' burglary, theft, criminal mischief and conspiracy charges are still pending in county court.
In addition to Penn Turf and JLS Construction, restitution requests were also authorized for the owners and operators of Zmac's Riverside Pub, Hollidaysburg Wash-N-Go, Golf World by Knisely and Five Star Powersports. Doyle's sentencing order gave Gardner 15 years to pay the restitution.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.