News

November 11, 2009

Barber charged with clipping county funds

Arrest papers allege he overbilled prison $6,000 for inmate haircuts.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – A weekend barber at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility was charged on Tuesday with billing the county nearly $6,000 for fictitious inmate haircuts.

Robert Mark Licata, 52, of Linden Streets, West Pittston, surrendered with his attorney, Tara C. Toohil, at Wilkes-Barre Central Court where he was arraigned on charges of theft and tampering with public records. He was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

County detectives allege Licata, a certified barber, submitted 17 duplicate copies of inmate sign-in-sheets for haircuts from Dec. 26, 2006 to Dec. 1, 2008, and was paid $5,982 in the alleged scheme.

“After we found out some of the discrepancies, we told him that we wanted him to resign,” Warden Joseph Piazza said. “Despite the fact he resigned, the prison board terminated him at a board meeting in June.”

Piazza said two barbers were hired to replace Licata.

According to the criminal complaint:

Licata was hired in June 2005 to cut inmates hair on Saturdays and Sundays at $6 per person. During his employment, Licata claimed he had given 11,362 haircuts and was paid $68,170.

An inmate would sign their name to a sign-in-sheet for a haircut in which Licata would submit to the facility’s commissary clerk for payment.

Licata submitted an original sign-in-sheet listing 56 inmates on Dec. 4, 2006 and was legitimately paid $336. Licata allegedly resubmitted a copy of the Dec. 4, 2006, sign-in-sheet three weeks later and was illegally paid the same amount, the criminal complaint says.

Licata repeated the alleged scheme by resubmitting copies of inmate sign-in-sheets for haircuts in May 2007, June 2007, August 2007, November 2007, January 2008, July 2008 and December 2008.

Licata was issued a cosmetology license from the Pennsylvania Department of State in December 1977. His license was renewed in May 1994 and expires in January, according to the Department of State.

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