Pa. man sentenced over employee accident, death
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The owner of a western Pennsylvania painting company has pleaded guilty to willfully violating federal workplace safety standards when one of his employees was electrocuted while painting near some power lines.
Thomas Caruso, 78, was sentenced toay to one year of probation by Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan. Caruso, the owner of Modern Painting & Decorating, of Springdale, had already been fined $57,900 for the electrocution death of 48-year-old Paul Thompson.
Thompson, of Blawnox, was killed in April 2010, when he was hit by electrical wires while working. Prosecutors say that during a previous job Caruso had a power company sleeve the lines to protect his workers.
But that wasn’t done on the job Thompson was working on.