by peter e. bortner
Samuel T. Steffie will serve even more time behind state prison bars, as a Schuylkill County judge on Monday sentenced him for selling stolen veterans' grave markers to a scrapyard.
Steffie, 41, of Schuylkill Haven, must spend 16 to 32 months in a state correctional institution, consecutive to the sentence he already is serving, for what Judge Charles M. Miller termed his "egregious" and "despicable" act.
"Mr. Steffie is a career criminal," Miller said before imposing the sentence, which also requires Steffie to pay costs, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $524 restitution to the county Department of Veteran's Services and undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.
"Mr. Steffie doesn't appear to show any remorse for either crime."
Those crimes are receiving stolen property and prohibited sale of veterans markers, which, after a one-day trial over which Miller presided, a jury on Feb. 4 found Steffie guilty of committing.
State police at Schuylkill Haven alleged that Steffie possessed and sold 14 veterans' grave markers between noon and 1 p.m. July 11, 2011, at USS Achey Inc., 355 E. Second Mountain Road, North Manheim Township, between Orwigsburg and Schuylkill Haven. Ten of the markers were bronze and four were aluminum, Miller said on Monday.
The markers were from county cemeteries and honored veterans from as far back as the Civil War, police said.
Security video from USS Achey shows Steffie turning in the markers, according to police.
Also, USS Achey's records show Steffie was the person who sold the markers, according to police. A driver's license that Steffie provided helped authorities make the identification, police said.
Miller imposed the sentence at the request of District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon, who said Steffie's criminal record is three pages long.
"Mr. Steffie is a thief. He is a career thief," Byrnes-Noon said. "The only time, Your Honor, that he doesn't commit any crimes against anyone is when he is in jail. He's just a career criminal."
Assistant Public Defender Christopher W. Hobbs, Steffie's lawyer, said USS Achey did not tell his client that what he was doing was a crime.
"The crime of selling grave markers appears to be a strict liability crime," Hobbs said. "There is no evidence that he knew what he was doing was wrong."
Miller did not see it that way, however, and Byrnes-Noon was happy after the hearing that he did not.
"We are very pleased with the sentence," she said after thanking the jury for convicting Steffie.
Miller made the prison sentence consecutive to the one of eight to 24 months that Judge Jacqueline L. Russell imposed on March 5 on two counts of selling or furnishing liquor to minors.
In that case, another jury convicted Steffie on Feb. 6 of two counts of selling or furnishing liquor to minors, while finding him not guilty of two counts each of endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors and one of simple assault. Russell, who presided over the one-day trial, found Steffie not guilty of harassment.
Schuylkill Haven borough police charged Steffie with providing Colt 45 malt liquor to two underage girls on Sept. 25-26, 2011, at his residence.
Russell made her sentence concurrent with one of two to 12 months also imposed March 5 by Judge James P. Goodman on one count of criminal mischief.
Steffie had pleaded guilty to that crime on Jan. 31, with prosecutors withdrawing a charge of recklessly endangering another person. Schuylkill Haven borough police alleged Steffie committed criminal mischief on April 6, 2012, in the borough.
County Director of Veterans Affairs Brenda L. Zechman said after Monday's hearing that Steffie is not the only person involved in the theft of veterans' grave markers.
"It's a problem everywhere," she said. "It's not only in Schuylkill County, it's everywhere in the state."
Zechman said the thefts of the markers that Steffie sold were not traced, but that they probably have been replaced.
"We never knew which graves they were taken from," she said. "As soon as anyone comes in, we replace (markers)."
Name: Samuel T. Steffie
· Age: 41
· Residence: Schuylkill Haven
· Crimes committed: Receiving stolen property and prohibited sale of veterans markers
· Prison sentence: 16 to 32 months in a state correctional institution consecutive to current sentence