Cleaning to continue despite theft

Probation was revoked April 5 after an offender was charged with unlawful use of a computer.
MERCER, Pa. -- Criminal offenders will continue to work off community service hours doing janitorial chores at the courthouse, despite problems caused when one such worker stole a computer memory chip from a courthouse office last month.
Mercer County Prison Board members said Monday they do not consider the episode sufficient reason to stop the program, which has been in place since 1992.
County Commissioner Olivia Lazor said that the program has been a success and that one problem in 16 years is no reason to cancel it.
Controller Thomas Amundsen said no confidential data was lost from the courthouse. He said that as a result of the theft, procedures have been changed and that such workers will no longer be allowed into offices.
On Friday, Judge Thomas Dobson of Mercer County Common Pleas Court resentenced Michael J. Mayerchak, 20, of Lamor Road, Mercer, to 15 to 30 months in a state correctional facility for criminal conspiracy to sell 3.5 grams of marijuana, criminal mischief and theft by unlawful taking.
Mayerchak had sold marijuana to a confidential informant in May 2005. In September 2005, he had stolen paint and used it to deface 11 properties in Findley Township, doing more than 5,000 damage. Mayerchak had earlier been placed on 39 months' probation for the offenses and had been ordered to perform a total of 300 hours' community service as a condition of probation.
Newest charge
But Mayerchak's probation was revoked April 5 after he was charged with unlawful use of a computer on allegations he removed a memory card March 6 from a computer in the courthouse while emptying trash after hours as part of his community service.
That memory card, valued at 150, controlled the prothonotary, fiscal, treasurer's, controller's, veterans administration and other offices. The computers in those offices were down until the following morning as a result of the theft.
Court documents state that when deputy sheriffs went to Mayerchak's home and confronted him, he gave them the memory card, telling them he tried to use it in his personal computer but it didn't work.
He has been charged with felony unlawful use of a computer, as well as receiving stolen property and obstructing administration of law or other government function, both misdemeanors. He is awaiting arraignment on those charges.
Court documents state that besides violating his probation by being charged with another crime, Mayerchak was also in violation of his probation conditions because he was not keeping up payments on his 6,959 in court costs, having made only one 59 payment since he was sentenced for the offenses in March 2006 and October 2005.