PORT TREVORTON -- The co-owners of a Snyder County strip club are facing more than 700 felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly failing to provide employees with workers' compensation insurance coverage.
Melvin J. and Michelle Mowery, of 213 S. Molasses St., Mount Pleasant Mills, are each facing charges for not having workers' compensation insurance for employees at the Routes 11-15 club at times between January 2006 and March 2010, according to criminal complaints filed by William Beates, an investigator with the state Department of Labor and Industry. Melvin Mowery declined to comment on the charges Friday.
Regulators charge the business with a separate count for every day it lacked workers' compensation coverage.
As evidence of the violations, Beates cited a March 2 decision by Workers' Compensation Judge Karl Baldys granting compensation benefits to Shawn Gelnett, who was injured while working at Wild J's and the fact the Mowerys had previously carried insurance for the club.
Court papers do not indicate how Gelnett was injured or what his job was at the establishment.
Court documents said the couple was not exempt from providing the coverage as self-insured employers and failed to carry insurance from Jan. 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007; Oct. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2008, and Jan. 9, 2010 through March 31, 2010.
As a result, the Mowerys were each charged with 82 felony counts and 638 misdemeanor counts for allegedly violating the law and 82 third-degree felony charges for alleged intentional violations under Section 305 of the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act.
Wild J's was targeted for one of the most common types of insurance fraud, according to the Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority. Fifty-eight percent of insurance fraud complaints involve employers who fail to carry required insurance.
According to the law, first-time offenders may be eligible to enter into an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program, which could result in the charges being dismissed upon completion of a period of probation.
The Department of Labor's website shows that last year there were two cases of local employers violating the law.
Union-Snyder President Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr. entered both Kenneth E. Benner, owner, and Susquehanna Valley Amusements Inc., Middleburg, into the ARD program for first-time offenders on March 10, 2009.
Both were placed on probation for 24 months, ordered to pay the cost of prosecution and pay restitution to Pcomp, a private health insurer, in the amount of $25,559 and continuously maintain workers' compensation insurance coverage for all employees. Defendants may not seek an expungement of their criminal record for 10 years.
The bureau's Compliance Unit reports that Benner's company is now in compliance with the state law.
Judge Louise O. Knight entered Mark D. Keister, owner of Mudhens Manufacturing Inc. in Mifflinburg, into the ARD program for first-time offenders on March 18, 2009, in Union County Court.
Keister was placed on probation for 12 months, ordered to pay the costs of prosecution and $6,416 in restitution to Union County. The bureau's Compliance Unit reports the company is now in compliance with the state workers' compensation law.
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