By Karen Blackledge
The Daily Item
DANVILLE — One day after pleading guilty to scamming two Montour County couples, a Riverside contractor accepted payment for a job he never completed, a Columbia-Montour judge said Tuesday while sending Wayne Lee Biddinger to jail on a total $150,000 cash bail.
Judge Thomas James on Tuesday allowed Biddinger to revoke a Dec. 14 guilty plea for scamming a Narehood Road resident, but denied a similar request in a case involving an elderly Mahoning Township couple.
On Dec. 15, Biddinger accepted the second of three payments from a Watsontown man for a project he never completed.
"This raises it to the level of violation of bail," James said during a 2½-hour hearing.
"Look at the record," James said of Biddinger, 54, who has pleaded guilty to theft by services; unauthorized use, forgery, theft by deception; worthless checks and serving one to five years in a state prison for a Milton burglary.
Biddinger's adult criminal record extends dates to 1979, with his pleading guilty five times to theft by deception and-or services:
n Aug. 3, 1996, in Northumberland County, with a jail term of one to two years;n April 28, 1998, in Union County, with 18 months probation;n July 1, 1998, with a sentence of 15 to 30 months;n Sept. 9, 1999, in Montour County, with a sentence of 15 to 30 months; and
n Sept. 5, 2008, in Columbia County, with fines .
"He won't stop. It never ends," Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr. said. "He always has reason to come back and ask for more money. He is a true danger to this community."
James, the judge, held Biddinger's guilty plea on theft by deception for a roof project at the Mahoning Township home of Donald Swank, 92, and his wife, Nelena, 87. Biddinger allegedly collected $5,660 from the Swanks without starting the project, which was to cost only $3,400.
Biddinger was allowed to revoke his guilty plea and faces trial in the case of Dennis Reese, of Narehood Road, for $600 received to paint a roof. Reese testified he loses $100 a day at his machinist job plus a $100 bonus for six months' perfect attendance each time he has to testify in court, amounting to $300 already.
Ten days before Biddinger pleaded guilty in those cases, he accepted $800 from Stanley Sioux, 72, of Watsontown.
Sioux testified he gave Biddinger the money Dec. 4 after placing a newspaper ad. On Dec. 15 — the day after the guilty pleas — Biddinger told Sioux he needed $375 for heating oil for his home, Sioux testified. Four days later, Sioux paid Biddinger $300 because Biddinger said his wife had an emergency.
On Dec. 26, Sioux said Biddinger asked for $186 so he could buy a windshield for his truck.
"He started threatening me saying he would bring action against me," Sioux said.
All told, Sioux paid Biddinger $1,475 toward a $1,600 job.
When Biddinger saw a letter from Union-Snyder Judge Louise Knight, he threatened to say Sioux was having an affair with her.
"We're just good friends," Sioux said.
Biddinger delivered 20 sheets of sheet rock of improper size for a sheetrock and pipe project, Sioux said. Most of the work at his home has been completed by another contractor, Sioux said.
Milton state police trooper Matthew LaForme testified Biddinger wasn't a registered contractor, with Biddinger saying Sioux didn't want a contractor because a contractor would be too expensive.
Biddinger said he stopped work on the Sioux project because the house didn't meet building codes.
Before that, he and his brother hung drywall in the house, Biddinger said.
"I helped him hang cupboards and fixed a beam that he ran into and didn't charge him," Biddinger said. "I will take a polygraph. He told me he was dating Judge Knight. I was trying to help the guy."
Biddinger is scheduled to appear Friday in Northumberland County Court on the Sioux case.
James, the judge, said the Swanks would be victimized twice if he allowed Biddinger to withdraw his guilty plea.
The Swanks' daughter, Kay Swank, a teacher from Selinsgrove, testified her parents suffer from memory loss and were agreeable to the previous guilty plea.
"They don't remember from one conversation to the next," said Swank, who has power of attorney for her parents. She said she became alarmed after discovering her mother had written checks to Biddinger in May 2009 "well beyond the roof contract."
They couldn't testify in court about specific dates and times, she said.
Buehner also entered into evidence a letter he sent Biddinger on April 23, 2009, warning him not to take funds from people and fail to perform services.
Biddinger claimed he entered guilty pleas Dec. 14 because he didn't complete the jobs, saying he thought a jury would find him guilty.
"I didn't want to say I was guilty," he said. "I admitted to a lot of court through the years I didn't mean to."
James said he couldn't imagine Biddinger's attorney, Steve Becker, of Lewisburg, not explaining everything in detail to Biddinger about the cases. Becker is a "competent and knowledgeable" attorney, James said.
