Window Cleaning Vice President Gets 10 Years

PITTSBURGH — A former executive of a western Pennsylvania window company has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for unemployment compensation fraud, and other rip-offs. Forty-six-year-old Lacy Tilley, of Richland Township, was sentenced Friday after telling a federal judge in Pittsburgh his life story, including a past cocaine conviction and an 87-month prison sentence he's currently serving for gun possession as a felon. Friday's sentence will run concurrent to the gun term, meaning he'll be in prison until 2020, minus good time. Tilley ripped off the state unemployment system by having his girlfriend and several other associates illegally collect $39,000 in benefits while they still had jobs. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says Tilley also stole $305,000 from Penn Window Co. while its vice president, and cheated a business landlord out of $123,000 in a bid-rigging scheme.

Richland man given 9-year sentence for unemployment fraud: Typically, when defendants are asked to speak at their sentencing hearings, they apologize quickly and then stop talking. Lacy Tilley, 46, of Richland, decided instead today to tell his life story before U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti sentenced him to nine years and two months in prison for ripping off his employer, clients, employees and the state unemployment compensation system.

Mr. Tilley, formerly vice president of Penn Window Co., is "a person who has been blessed with many attributes that would've made you quite successful if you'd focused on doing things in a proper manner," said Judge Conti. "You have a drive within you to succeed, but you've trampled over a lot of people whose lives are devastated."

Those people include his girlfriend and several ex-associates, who were convinced by him to collect unemployment while working, defrauding the state of $39,387 and as a result being indicted individually; Coraopolis-based Penn Window, from which he took $305,517; and the owners of a Cleveland office building who incurred losses of $123,000 when he arranged to have a bid rigged in favor of one of his companies.

Mr. Tilley told the judge that as a young man he was a Marine, who took a bad conduct discharge and got off to a rough start on civilian life with a job as a bouncer at a bar. "I was a drunken ex-Marine, and I sold coke," he said. He did time for cocaine, got out, and spent 15 years working hard, primarily for Penn Window. He worked so hard, he lost two wives, and drifted into and out of drug abuse. "Cocaine kept me awake, and I could work late hours," he said. "I [had] 80 employees, I've got four offices, 14 trucks," and logistical headaches, he said.

Then he met the love of his life, Claudelle McMahill. He was good to her, but roped her into his schemes, too, convincing her, and others, to cheat the unemployment system. Concocting that scheme, he said, "had to be the dumbest moment of my life." Ms. McMahill was sentenced to 20 months in prison for her role in his crimes. "I took advantage of people in business," he continued, admitting to ripping off One Cleveland Center through bid-rigging. "What did I gain? ... I lived high on the hog for several years."

He said he has suffered enough, even missing his mother's death and losing Ms. McMahill, and should be allowed to "get out there and pay these [victims of his crimes] back" by working for a living. "I haven't seen an iota of remorse from Mr. Tilley, and I've been dealing with him for five years now," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan T. Conway. Mr. Tilley was first indicted in 2006, and has spent much of the time since pointing fingers at others. He also was caught with guns, which is illegal for a felon, and in 2008 was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for that.

His nine-year sentence today, for 34 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, mail fraud and conspiracy, will run concurrently with the remainder of the gun sentence, meaning he can expect to get out by 2020. He must also join some of his co-conspirators in paying restitution, which totals around $507,000.

 Richland man sentenced to 9 years, 2 months in prison for fraud: A Richland man’s marathon attempt to prove he shouldn’t spend additional time in prison ended today when a federal judge sentenced him to nine years and two months in prison on three fraud cases. Lacey Tilley, 46, had argued in court documents that his sentence should run concurrent with — and end at the same time as — the sentence he’s already serving on a firearm charge. Tilley has been in Allegheny County since July 2007 after he was arrested in Florida for skipping bail on the fraud and firearm charges.

U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti agreed to make the fraud sentence run concurrent with the firearms sentence but the nine years and two months is more time then he has left to serve for his December 2007 jury conviction of being a felon in possession of firearm. In the first fraud case, a federal jury in November 2008 convicted Tilley of buying a company that provides janitorial services and telling his employees to file fraudulent unemployment claims. He then included those unemployment benefits as part of their salaries. The jury convicted him on one count of conspiracy and 31 counts of mail fraud.

In the other two fraud cases, Tilley pleaded guilty in 2009 to one count of mail fraud for embezzling more than $300,000 from his former employer, Penn Window Cleaning Company, and one count of wire fraud connected to submitting false loan documents to obtain a mortgage. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway said the year and nine months spent on hearings and motions between Tilley’s guilty plea and sentencing may be a record for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Conway confirmed the judge’s order means that the time Tilley already has served won’t be credited to his fraud sentence. Conti also sentenced Tilley to three years of probation.

Picture Of The Day + Window Cleaning News

Day in Pictures -BREMERTON, WA: Jonathan Kessler of Pacific Window Cleaning in Seattle cleans the glass on-the Norm Dicks Government Center in Bremerton, Wash. The windows are cleaned once a year. Click to enlarge.

WARREN: Walks and Windows coming- Courthouse Square soon should be looking a little cleaner due in part to a new program being undertaken by a downtown promotions group. The ''Walks and Windows'' program is sponsored by the Downtown Warren Events and Promotions Council, a division of the nonprofit organization Warren Development. Chairwoman Jennifer Campbell said the program involves nonprofit groups adopting the block of Courthouse Square in exchange for a $300 donation. The ''windows" part of the program will involve downtown merchants sharing the cost of having their storefront windows cleaned. Campbell said it is less expensive to have all the windows cleaned at the same time than for each individual merchant to pay a private window washer on their own. "Even though there are vacancies, this will help the remaining merchants and hopefully attract new ones. There is a lot of pride in downtown. We need to let it shine," Campbell said.

Waging war on benefits cheats: John Booth's claim that he was scared to go outdoors and could not walk 50 yards without help was a tall story. In fact the 63-year-old, from Chorley, Lancs, was running a window cleaning business. He fraudulently took £71,500 in handouts over 14 years. Booth, who admitted 17 false accounting charges at Preston Crown Court, was given a suspended 28-week jail term in June and told to pay back all the money he had claimed. He was also placed under a four-month curfew from 8pm to 7am and ordered to pay £750 costs. Previous Blog here & here.

Like an adrenaline shot to the heart, Trauma is the first medical drama series set exclusively where the real action takes place – in the field. Cliff Curtis (Push) and Derek Luke (Notorious) star as ambitious heroes dedicated to one of the most dangerous professions in the world: first responder paramedics. Often the scene is one where you want to hide you eyes - a man falling off of a wall onto a cement spike, a window washer on a sky scraper going through a window. Helicopter and ambulance are dispatched, and the teams have dialogue and banter back and forth until they get to the scene where Rabbit or Nancy use unorthodox measures to save a life.

This ROCR from the University of Utah can actually climb walls like a spider. It’s more like a monkey, honestly. Let’s just say it’s like a spider monkey. It can only climb carpeted walls for now, but it goes at a speed of six inches per second. The creators of the ROCR boast of its efficiency to be twenty percent, a number derived by the ratio of work done to energy consumed. Apparently, the next (and most obvious) step is higher climbing efficiencies and extended battery life. I’m sure there are plans to make certain that certain that it can climb more than just carpeted walls. Soon it will give Spider-man a run for his money. Just think of a window washer on a large skyscraper with one of these things on his back. No more of those cable and scaffolding jobs. I can’t think of anything else for this, but give it time.

£30,000 to clean 6 windows: The Bishop of Durham held a service on Sunday as a piece of history returned to a church. The stained glass window at St Thomas’ Church, in Stanhope, County Durham, was removed for £30,000 renovation work last year amid fears it would fall out. Some parts of the window date back to the 14th Century. Church warden John Anstee said: “It is the second oldest glass in the county, next to Durham Cathedral. “Everybody has had a moment with it. You can now see detail that you couldn’t before. “There are 11 Tudor roses that we didn’t know were in there. “Since it has been back, especially when the sun is setting in the west, it is very special. “We are very proud of it.” The Right Reverend Tom Wright held a rededication service at the church on Sunday.

Trio abseil clock tower housing Big Ben for repairs: The clock faces are set in an iron frame on St Stephen's Tower, which is part of the Houses of Parliament, in central London. The trio descend each of the four sides of the clock face at a height of around 315ft (96m). Each clock face is 23 ft (7m) in diameter, while there are a total of 312 pieces of opal glass. Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell housed within St Stephen's Tower. Two height safety specialists abseiled on the clock faces initially. Then specialist heritage glazer Tony McGilbert abseiled to evaluate the repairs to the fragile glass fascia panels within the clock faces. The men wore ear defenders as the clock continued to strike as they carried out the work, which was expected to last all day. Their equipment was attached to them to ensure it cannot fall onto the ground below. "We have worked on a lot of historic buildings such as the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Bank of England," said Terri Cliffe-Harrison, a spokeswoman for height safety specialists TaskMasters. "It's a real privilege to be working on such another famous landmark, although that makes it all the more daunting a prospect."

An elaborate window-cleaning at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - The stained-glass rose window at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is rarely noticed, although it dominates the North Broad Street facade of the historic building. Of course, most windows accomplish their task best by not being seen. But not stained glass. Stained glass usually announces itself, transforming an interior with ethereal light, drawing an eye to conspicuous arrays of color. This week, the window and its many panels - 511 pieces of glass - are being cleaned and restored; leading has been removed and replaced; and the whole array is being returned to its quiet perch, a process that should be finished by Monday. Their absence has drawn attention to the windows.

Google Street View: past controversies - In July, a window cleaner who appeared to have two heads was spotted in Hawes, Yorkshire, and displayed on Street View. One explanation given was that the Google Street View car took two images of that part of the street and he happened to be caught on the edges of both.

Comedian saved as he died on stage: As the comedian was getting to the punch line he was dying on stage - literally. Eddie Stapleton would have faced his final curtain without the swift actions of an audience member who delivered life-saving CPR as paramedics raced to the scene. Retired window cleaner and carpet fitter Eddie, 77, is a member of Tenby Male Choir and had taken part in a concert at the town’s St Mary’s Church with the Gentlemen Songsters of Dudley in May. Afterwards, the choirs retired to the De Valence Pavilion for refreshments and Eddie took to the microphone with a monologue, only to keel over as he reached the end of his story. “Doctors later told me if Guy Jackson, who was with the Dudley choir, hadn’t stepped in I would have been a gonner. “Guy gave me CPR and got my heart going before the paramedics arrived and I will always be grateful for that. He was fantastic and so were the paramedics.

One of the aftershocks is the move to post salaries of municipal workers online, in particular for the city and county of Los Angeles. Even though this information had been available in the past, now there is an ample appetite for seeing just where taxpayer money goes. It’s being trumpeted under the title of “transparency.” It has 16 people with the title Window Cleaner/Airport who make $54,000 a year or more. For a 40-hour week in a 52-week year, that’s about $26 an hour. That’s pretty good for someone who wields a large squeegee.

Design a glass house: No, people who live in glass houses shouldn't be on television, unless, of course, their assignment is to design and build a glass house. Then the goal, a perfect metaphor for the process itself, makes some sense. HGTV's Design Star'' takes the metaphor to heart for its penultimate episode, ``The Glass House Challenge,'' airing Sunday on HGTV. The three remaining designers are challenged to come up with glass houses smack in New York City's Foley Square. The requirement involves putting a personal design aesthetic into each abode. Not just glass walls but also a certain enveloping feel.

Freeport, Grand Bahama - For specific business categories in Freeport, the cost of starting a business just got lower, thanks to the newest business development initiative launched by The Grand Bahama Port Authority, Limited (GBPA). Their recently introduced, ‘Self-storage & Warehouse’, programme allows individuals in specified trades to use self-storage facilities as approved premises to apply for a GBPA business license. Company president, Ian Rolle, explained the premise of the initiative. “It is a fact that there is a great demand to enter in to business, but the start-up costs makes it difficult for some,” he stated. “The Self-Storage & Warehouse initiative allows entrepreneurs, in specific categories, to take advantage of the benefits offered as a GBPA licensee.” “If you take a small business person like a window cleaner, he doesn’t need to rent an office. Now he can get a storage unit, put all of his equipment in it where it’s secured and operate his business using a cell phone,” Gallagher explained.

Distraction burglary against the elderly: Police believe a man is targeting vulnerable people and posing as officials to gain access to their homes. A man claiming to be from social services stole a bag from a property in Britwell before making off at about 3pm on Tuesday. Police believe the same man, posing as a care worker or window cleaner, gained entry to another property in the vicinity and knocked at the doors of others, although nothing was stolen. Det Con Nicola Douglas said: "We believe that the man targeted the type of addresses normally occupied by elderly or vulnerable people. I cannot stress enough the importance of using door chains, checking ID, and calling the police if you are in any doubt whatsoever about someone calling at your home. Don't answer the door unless you are one hundred per cent certain the caller is genuine." The man is described as white, between 30 and 50 years old, about 5ft 7ins and of medium to chubby build. He had a full black and grey beard and a moustache. It is possible that two of his front teeth are missing or chipped. He is thought to have been driving a red car with a black fabric roof, possibly a convertible. Anyone with information can call Det Con Douglas on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Dad spared jail after drugs raid: A dad whose cannabis habit spiralled following the death of his child has escaped a jail sentence after police found his stash of the drug. Officers raided the home of Dean Simpson's ex-partner, Makhala McGurry, in Hartlepool's Brafferton Street. They found a box containing cannabis as well as a total of 38 foil wraps and valued the total haul at £220. Simpson arrived while police were there and said the cannabis was his, Teesside Crown Court heard. After previously admitting possession of cannabis, a class B drug, with intent to supply, Simpson, of Cameron Road, Hartlepool, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18-months, and supervision. He was also ordered to complete 160 hours unpaid work. McGurry, 22, was given an 18-month conditional discharge after admitting being concerned in the supply of a class B drug. In interview, Simpson said McGurry was the mother of his son and he went to the house daily. By the end of the interview Simpson admitted he sold wraps for between £7.50 and £10 to people who came to the house. "Tragically they lost one of the children. Almost simultaneously Dean Simpson became unemployed because of economic conditions in the local area." He said Simpson, 24, started to use cannabis more heavily and supplied a few friends to fund his habit, but has since cut down considerably. Both Simpson, who has now got a job as a window cleaner, and McGurry, were of previous good character.

Window Cleaning for Vietnam Vet'

State’s VFW reaching out to younger veterans: Ben Mastridge, a window cleaner, returned from the Vietnam War with a hole in his foot and patriotism tucked in his back pocket for safe keeping. “When I first came back in 1966, I didn’t immediately join the VFW,” he said. “I didn’t want to think about the military. A lot of Vietnam veterans didn’t initially join a post because of the atmosphere we came home to and you didn’t always feel welcome.” Recently elected as junior vice commander for the Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars, Mastridge said he’s now determined to help modernize that organization. That way, he said, no veteran would ever get a cold reception again. Mastridge, who is 65, owns a window cleaning service in Bensalem. He said being his own boss has allowed him the freedom necessary for his new position as junior vice commander. “A lot more people are coming back damaged mentally and physically from Iraq and Afghanistan. And we have service officers in our clubs to assist these veterans and regional service officers with even more information and training,” he continued. “We need to dispel the myth that the VFW is just a bunch of old guys with their own bar selling cheaper beer. Last year alone, we raised more than $2.5 million to help the families of soldiers fighting overseas,” he said. The Pennsylvania VFW said it has 120,000 members in 540 posts across the state. Mastridge received the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal and the Cross of Gallantry with Palm and Unit Citation. He served in the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division and was injured when a mortar blast sent shrapnel through his foot while in an artillery battery area in Vietnam. He eventually joined the VFW in 1994 and now is a member of the Billington Post.