Storm doesn't delay Bethany shore work

OCEAN CITY -- Post-storm evaluations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicate its efforts in conjunction with Ocean City to protect resort beaches played a role in preventing damage from Hurricane Irene.

Sand dunes are the main facet of the Maryland Hurricane Shoreline Protection Project, completed in 1991 with a price tag of $42 million, and they held up for the most part over the weekend. Surf reached the dunes during the storm, but did not overtake them -- partially because the storm's strongest moments occurred during low tide.

"The dunes did their job, and I'm glad they're still there," said Mayor Rick Meehan.

Ocean City's beaches are periodically replenished; the most recent work took place in May.

The project also included a concrete-capped sheetpile bulkhead along the Boardwalk and the placement of 3.6 million cubic yards of sand along the coastline that widened the beach.

"Ocean City appears to be in great shape, and we're proud to say that is a direct result of this project," said Baltimore District Commander Col. Dave Anderson, who visited the town with Project Manager Kevin Brennan on Monday.

The Corps finished a beach replenishment project on Fenwick Island Aug. 13 which allowed the beaches to hold up very well during the storm, according to Town Manager Win Abbott.

During the storm, some of the beach had moved about 30 yards out toward the ocean, but that change is expected to be short-lived, with the sand migrating back onto the shore.

"With natural wind and wave action, it'll build right back up again," Abbott said, adding the project probably paid for itself many times over with the protection it provided during Irene alone.

The Corps' Philadelphia District is slated to begin work on a similar project in Bethany Beach soon after Labor Day, and spokesman Ed Voigt said it is still on schedule despite the storm.

At Assateague Island National Seashore, park rangers allow the beach to experience its natural progression, and haven't designed any projects to minimize storm damage. Irene moved a lot of sand around and changed the shoreline "fairly dramatically," but there wasn't any ocean to bay overwash that reduces beach on the east and adds to the west side of the island, according to Carl Zimmerman, a management assistant at the park.

Park staff were cleaning up the island Monday for a Tuesday reopening. Some of the campgrounds were flooded during the storm, however, and Zimmerman says they won't open until Wednesday, with some staying closed until closer to the holiday weekend.

Ocean City 'dodged a missile' with Irene

OCEAN CITY -- Hurricane Irene fell well short of expectations when she passed within 50 miles of Ocean City's beaches early Sunday morning.

The result went over well with residents, town officials and business owners, along with vacationers past and future, most of whom were preparing for crippling damages.

Instead of the heavily publicized worst-case scenarios, Ocean City is back open for business, and has been since noon Sunday -- less than 12 hours after the storm's most significant period.

No injuries were reported, and the storm brought only minimal structural damage and minor flooding in low-lying areas that is typical of a severe thunderstorm.

"We dodged a missile," said Mayor Rick Meehan on Sunday morning. "I think we're all happy to see how we fared."

The town was able to allow residents and business owners back into town at 9 a.m. Sunday so they could prepare to reopen when tourists began streaming across the Routes 50 and 90 bridges three hours later. The quickness of the re-entry was something Meehan said he didn't think anyone had expected.

Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said emergency service personnel were able to complete their evaluation of the town in a short amount of time due to the fact that most of the damage was "superficial" in comparison to expectations.

Two well-known resort landmarks were damaged during the storm: a portion toward the tip of the Inlet Pier was ravaged and the jetty tower at the entrance to the Inlet was toppled and washed away.

The hurricane passed within 50 miles of the resort's coast early in the morning on Sunday; it brought sustained winds of 60 mph, with the top-recorded wind speed measured at 80 mph. Rainfall totaled 12 inches, and there was a storm surge of about 5 feet, according to information released by Ocean City officials Sunday morning.

Wind and rains were most intense from a period just after 1 a.m. that lasted less than an hour-and-a-half. The storm reduced in power afterward. The beach's sand dunes, which are in place to prevent surges entering town, held up through the storm.

Many who rode out the storm in town were underwhelmed. Steve Vider, a longtime resident who lives on Somerset Street, said he's seen nor'easters do much more damage than Irene. He was strolling around the Boardwalk early Saturday morning, where most of the damage was aesthetic in nature. Some sand had been swept onto the planks, making it difficult to discern where the beach ended and the boards began. There was, somewhat ironically, damage to the facade at Quiet Storm Surf Shop on the Boardwalk and North Division Street.

Fourth Street resident LeAnn Price was nonplussed by the storm, as well. She'd decided to stay because Ocean City is her home, she said with a shrug as she walked around town surveying the limited aftermath. She didn't object to the town's decision to impose a mandatory evacuation, she said.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Price said.

Meehan stuck by his decision to evacuate the town, even if damages from the storm end up outweighing the staggering loss in tourism dollars an empty summer weekend will produce. The information officials had when they made the decision to evacuate made it the right action to take, he said, adding that Saturday night and Sunday morning's conditions were not ones most people would want to vacation in or feel safe being exposed to.

Joe Theobald, Worcester County Emergency Services director, said he considered the actions taken during Irene to be a "successful exercise" that could be beneficial for efficient action in case of future storms.

"If something like this happens next year, they'll remember this year," Theobald said.

Emergency service personnel were pulled off the streets at around 9 p.m. Saturday, when winds reached 50 mph for a span of longer than 10 minutes. There were no 911 calls they were unable to respond to, according to Theobald.

The National Guard was called to the resort but were dismissed by town officials early in the morning to travel to parts of southern Maryland, where more aid would be useful.

"We felt it was responsible to alleviate them of their duties here," DiPino said.

DiPino's Saturday morning prediction that looting wouldn't be a problem held true for the most part:
There was one break-in in which a person took a case of beer but ended up leaving it at the scene.

They were either scared by someone or unable to carry it in the high winds, DiPino guessed.

The sun was shining early Sunday afternoon and people were coming back into town, where they were taking to the Boardwalk and the beaches in droves to enjoy the end of the weekend. Many surfers were quickly in the water, taking advantage of the lingering waves from the storm that are atypical in Ocean City.

The beach was open, but surf access was limited due to the waters. Beach Patrol Capt. Butch Arbin warns the rough surf could continue for the next few days.

"This is the time you really have to be careful, because after these storms it gets really nice and sunny out, and people want to get to the beach and in the water," he said. "You have to realize the water isn't going to calm so quickly."

smuska@dmg.gannett.com 410-213-9442, ext. 14

Wind, surf, rain batter OC

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Palm trees and pirate flags at the nightclub Seacrets in Ocean City take the brunt of the ever-increasing wind from Hurricane Irene on Saturday afternoon. / THOMAS MELVILLE/THE DAILY TIMES

OCEAN CITY -- The officials and residents who stayed in Ocean City despite a resortwide evacuation were hunkered down indoors Saturday evening and into this morning waiting out the myriad of damages Hurricane Irene was expected to bring.

They were treated to what Worcester County Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald referred to as a "three-course meal" of sustained hurricane-force winds at about 79 mph with gusts up to 90 mph, a 4-6 foot storm surge and 8-12 inches of rainfall. The "meal" was expected to peak for as long as six hours, starting at 9 p.m. and calming down between 2-3 a.m. today, according to Mayor Rick Meehan.

The rains and increased winds came as a precursor to the heavier action starting early Saturday morning, bringing the first indications of the storm after an eerily quiet and meteorologically clear Friday night. The hurricane was expected to hover in the higher points of the Category 1 designation, but Theobald said it could make it to Category 2.

Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said about 300 nonemergency personnel had stayed in town in disobeyance of Meehan's mandatory evacuation order, based on a door-to-door check executed Friday. A typical late-August weekend sees a population of at least 200,000 in the resort, she said.

DiPino said those who remained may not have been able to get town assistance in case of an emergency after about 5 p.m., when gale force winds were expected to kick in. They couldn't risk their officers, especially in light of an evacuation order that was very publicized.

"When those winds hit about 50 miles per hour, we call them out," said Theobald of the police and firefighters who patrolled the area through the day.

Two Bulgarian students named Mustafa and Ianis opted to stay, even though they are among the group of international students who were the first ordered to evacuate on Thursday morning. They withheld their last names, so as not to get in trouble with the agencies who helped them acquire a work assignment on the coast for the summer. On Saturday afternoon, they were standing outside on the balcony of their apartment on Philadelphia Avenue, watching the wind and rain.

They noted that many of the other international students had left two days before for a shelter in Baltimore, and that they felt better in their temporary home in town.

"It's hard to make a decision when you don't know what's going to happen," said Ianis, who said his main storm-related concern was that the roof of their building might fly off.

If conditions got too dicey, they planned to go across the Route 50 Bridge to the shelter at Stephen Decatur High School. They had a couple other friends down the street who had a car who would pick them up if they all decided to leave.

Phil Stoer, a 24-year-old local who works at the Holiday Inn on 17th Street, wanted to be around for Irene. He stayed in town with about 30 other employees to help prepare the building for the storm. They'd spent most of Friday filling bags with sand and lugging them up on the beach in an effort to prevent flooding of the hotel's ground floor.

He and the other employees planned to ride the storm out in hotel rooms, so they could help begin needed repairs as soon as the storm allowed.

"How many times are you going to have the opportunity to be oceanfront for a hurricane?" Stoer said, adding he didn't think the damages would be as extensive as the worst-case scenarios people had been predicting.

In some cases, people who had originally planned to stay had left after experiencing second thoughts.

Among them was Andrew Webster, a 23-year-old who lives on 38th Street. Some of his friends had decided to leave, and he didn't want to stick around alone.

"We wanted to stick around so we could go surfing, but we got kicked out of the water anyway," Webster said.

City Manager Dennis Dare spent the storm at the Public Safety Building on 65th Street with many other city officials, including Meehan, Theobold, council members and representatives from all of the city's emergency service entities. They had set up an outpost, and Councilwoman Mary Knight and many others came through the doors Saturday morning wielding trays of food for everyone.

Dare said any preparations that could have been taken were already in place by Saturday morning, and that the town was already looking toward recovery before the storm even hit.

"It's just a matter of how hard it hits," Dare said. "Some things are going to float that have never floated before, and some things are going to blow that have never blown before. It's just a matter of what the weaknesses are."

Senator Jim Mathias stayed at his family home in town until about 11 a.m. Saturday morning, monitoring the storm for Royal Plus, Inc. a disaster management company he works for. Mathias often travels to hurricane and other natural disaster sites for the company, and was heading to Snow Hill, where they had set up a command center to continue monitoring the storm and to contribute to recovery efforts.

Mathias' two children had left the area earlier in the week to avoid the storm, he said.

"My family is safe, and Kathy is up in Heaven, so she's watching us," Mathias said of his wife, a longtime city employee who recently passed away.

Meehan was optimistic about the way the town's structures might handle the storm, saying Ocean City's buildings typically exceed code requirements. He and DiPino also said they didn't think looting would be a problem during or after the storm.

"That's just not the kind of community we have in Ocean City," DiPino said.

An assessment of the damage would immediately follow the storm, and would be used to make a decision on when people might be allowed back across the bridges into town to survey their property, Meehan said.

"This is Ocean City. We usually get through it," Theobald said.

smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14

 

 

As prepared as we can be

People in Ocean City fill up bags with sand in preparation for Hurricane Irene on Friday. / MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES

OCEAN CITY -- Ocean City's streets were vacant Friday afternoon, on a day when they're normally teeming with people. The reason was an uninvited guest: Hurricane Irene.

Mayor Rick Meehan said he guessed at least 90 percent of people in Ocean City heeded instructions to evacuate.

"People are understanding the severity of the storm," Meehan said. Asked if there would be fines imposed on those who decided to stay, he said, "The fine is not being bright."

Meehan said he and several Ocean City department heads, along with some police and first responders, would ride out the storm in the Public Safety Building, which was built to serve as storm headquarters.

But he said when the storm is at its strongest, beginning this afternoon, it would become too dangerous to send rescue crews to emergency calls.

From 6 p.m. today and until at least Sunday evening, Ocean City will shut down its sewer system; a toilet would likely overflow when flushed. Since Ocean City's plant serves much of West Ocean City as well, county officials ordered an evacuation of West Ocean City and the area east of Route 611. They did the same for all properties in South Point, including Cape Isle of Wight, Mystic Harbour, Snug Harbor, Assateague Point, Frontier Town campground and Castaways.

Worcester County officials said their Top 3 concerns are rainfall, wind and storm surge. The county can expect 6-12 inches of rain, 3-5 feet of storm surge above the high tide levels, and sustained winds of at least 75 mph with gusts up to 100 mph, according to Teresa Owens, director of Worcester County Emergency Services.

Projected hurricane paths based on meteorological computer models usually show varying routes as a storm churns up the coastline, Owens said. Not with Irene.

"All models have been exactly the same, within miles of each other," she said. "Bottom line, best-case scenario, we are going to get flooded, we are going to get wind damage. The ground is going to be saturated. We're going to get hammered all night Saturday."

She said any county employees who had planned vacations have been called back. All hands are on
deck until the storm and its aftermath have been handled.

"Most of you have been training a long, long time for this," Bud Church, president of the Worcester County Commissioners, told a room full of department heads and members of law enforcement at an emergency planning meeting Friday. "We're as well-prepared as we can possibly be."

Church's remarks were interrupted by his own ringing cellphone. "It's the Board of Education," he told the assembled staffers, with a smile. Church put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear the robocall explaining how schools would be closed Monday.

Monday was supposed to be the first day of school for Worcester County students, but the board put that on hold so some of its buildings could be made available as shelters. Those schools are Stephen Decatur Middle School (pets OK), Stephen Decatur High, Snow Hill High and Pocomoke High (pets OK).

The school year won't begin until evacuees are safely out of shelters. Shelters will remain open as needed and more will be made available based on demand.

Owens expected they will soon fill up because nobody will be turned away.

"They're going to rough it," she said. "They're not coming to the shelters to be comfortable. You're going to be on the floor. They will be safe but not real comfortable."

The Casino at Ocean Downs decided to close today and Sunday, after initially announcing a closure not beginning until Sunday. In Ocean Pines, the homeowners association encouraged waterfront properties and places prone to flooding to vacate. But no broad evacuation advisory had been issued for Ocean Pines as of Friday afternoon. The Assateague waterfront parks were cleared out Friday.

County crews have been "working feverishly" since Tuesday, laying sandbags at public buildings prone to flooding, inspecting bridges and securing loose items at construction sites, said Public Works Director John Tustin.

Fire companies will not respond to calls for service once sustained winds reach 45 mph, said Worcester County Fire Marshall Jeff McMahon. "While you still have time to evacuate, you should," he said.
For county law enforcement, a major area of concern is the low-lying property between Stockton and Bishopville, said Worcester County Sheriff Reggie Mason.

Mason will have extra deputies in those areas to make sure people get out safely, in addition to the 25 deputies patrolling the entire county sector-by-sector for the duration. Another 20-25 deputies will be on call should more manpower become necessary, he said.

"I want people to know we're out there," Mason said. "If you need help, we're there. Right now, I feel prepared and ready to go."

Mason expects main roads to be inaccessible as a result of flooding and fallen trees, especially around the Pocomoke Forest area.

If deputies on patrol see any residents in dangerous places riding out the storm at home, they'll take down the residents' names and the names of their next of kin. The deputies will come back later to check on those people, Mason said.

» Staff Writer Charlene Sharpe contributed to this report.

 

OC empties ahead of Irene

OCEAN CITY -- An insistent evacuation of Ocean City began at midnight, and the resort hoped to
have all residents and visitors out of town by 5 p.m. today, as a hurricane heads for Delmarva.

At midnight, Phase 3 of the resort's evacuation plan went into effect, meaning everyone other than
emergency workers had to make their way across the bridges and out of town.

The decision was made late Thursday after overnight forecasts nudged the projected path of Hurricane Irene closer to the Delmarva coastline than had been expected Wednesday. Mayor Rick Meehan signed a local state of emergency declaration, which essentially shuts down the entire town. The sale of alcohol is banned, and all businesses were asked to close.

For Ocean City, Irene's eye "will pass very close by or just offshore later Saturday night into Sunday morning," Accuweather Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said Thursday.

It will bring heavy rain -- a predicted 9.5 inches in town -- that is expected to cause substantial coastal flooding, along with sustained hurricane-force winds reaching 90 mph, with gusts near 120 mph.

The highest wind speeds from the hurricane should occur at about 9 a.m. Sunday morning, according to an evacuation notification from Ocean City officials on Thursday. Gale-force winds are expected to begin affecting the resort Saturday at about 5 p.m., with hurricane-force winds kicking in Sunday at about 4 a.m.

"You got people with no idea what the hell's about to happen to them," said Worcester County Commissioner Virgil Shockley, who said he thinks not everyone will follow the evacuation order.

"You'll have people on the top floor of some hotel for a hurricane party."

Shockley said people need to get where they need to be by tonight, and they need to stay there. He likened the storm's potential to a "real nor'easter" multiplied by three.

If people don't heed the evacuation notice and stay in Ocean City, police who encounter them will take their name and next of kin information, said Ocean City police spokesman Mike Levy.

"After that, you're on your own," Levy said. If the town goes to Phase 4 of its plan, police and fire services will be suspended until the storm is over, he said.

After 5 p.m. today, the public will not be allowed to drive, bike or walk into town, Levy said.

Ed McDonough, spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, said he didn't anticipate mandatory evacuations for all of Worcester, Wicomico and surrounding counties, but that it hadn't been ruled out.

He said evacuees are more likely to be sent to local shelters than across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. If wind speeds in the area of the bridge reach 55 mph or higher during Irene's duration, the bridge will close.

In Somerset County, officials were expected to begin evacuating Smith Island, according to Yvette Sterling, assistant director of emergency services. Irene is expected to hit that area Saturday night at around the same time as high tide in Crisfield and Deal Island.

Somerset could see 6-12 inches of rain and tidal surges of 2-4 feet, which could cause serious flooding in coastal areas.

"I think Sunday morning's going to be a mess," Sterling said.

Ocean City's evacuation began with its first phase Thursday morning, when it asked planned visitors to stay away from town and began to evacuate its foreign-student summer work force. They were taken from the Roland Powell Convention Center by municipal bus first to Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, and then to a shelter in Baltimore.

The evacuation of some 4,000 students is expected to be completed sometime this morning.

"I'm not that scared, but it's good they're doing this," Elena Viscovatih, a native of Moldova, said while she waited with a bag to board a bus. "When we came here, we didn't expect to meet a hurricane. Last year, nothing like this happened."

One student from Moscow was distressed about the evacuation. She had a plane ticket for Saturday that would take her to New York. From there, she had planned to fly back to her home country.

"I don't know what I am supposed to do," she said in tears. "What do I do?"

» Staff Writers Liz Holland, Brian Shane and Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.

Ocean City officials order evacuation on Friday

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A crew at Sunset Marina in West Ocean City lifts a boat from the water on Wednesday as Hurricane Irene strengthened. The couple that owns the boat, Dream Catcher, also has property in Florida and decided to shore up both locations as the path of the storm was uncertain. / LAURA EMMONS/THE DAILY TIMES

OCEAN CITY -- Ocean City officials have ordered a mandatory evacuation starting at midnight tonight.

At that time, phase 3 of the resort's evacuation plan will go into effect, meaning everyone other than emergency personnel must leave.

A town statement said effective at midnight, "All persons other than identified emergency personnel are ordered to evacuate. Visitors are asked to return to their principal residences. Ocean City residents are asked to seek shelter elsewhere.

"Utilizing the authority under a local State of Emergency, the Mayor is banning the sale of all alcohol in Ocean City and requests that all businesses close beginning at midnight. All incoming traffic to Ocean City, Maryland, will be limited to emergency personnel."

The full statement is at fb.me/X8Ihj2zy

The decision was made this afternoon after overnight forecasts nudged the projected path of Hurricane Irene closer to the Delmarva coastline than had been expected during the day Wednesday.

Irene's eye "will pass very close by or just offshore [of Ocean City] later Saturday night into Sunday morning," AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said Thursday.

"Periods of heavy rain, damaging sustained tropical storm-force winds with hurricane-force wind gusts (95 mph), and serious coastal flooding will occur Saturday night into Sunday. Expect significant beach erosion with a storm surge averaging 2 to 4 feet, but locally it can be higher. There will be waves topping seawalls Saturday night," Sosnowski forecasted.

The predictions are subject to revision as the storm progresses north from Outer Banks, N.C., on Saturday.

Resort officials are monitoring the situation constantly and are prepared to get any messages regarding the storm out to the public quickly, according to Joe Theobald, Worcester Emergency Services director.

Weather updates will be posted on the town's website, offered via a recorded information line at 410-723-6666 and on 1670 AM.
 

"As of now, use common sense and pay attention to what's going on, and be prepared for a strong storm," Theobald said from his office Wednesday. "Everyone should have a personal plan."

 

Ocean City hasn't been evacuated since 1985, when Hurricane Gloria, a Category 5 storm, passed about 50 miles offshore and practically destroyed the Boardwalk. The town has since become much less vulnerable to storm damage due to beach replenishment efforts.

Theobald said there is a likelihood of stormwater accumulation downtown, a commonplace occurrence during downpours.

"It's going to be bad weather most of the weekend," said AccuWeather forecaster John Gresiak, who added waters will still be "very rough" through Sunday, even after the storm passes.

"I wouldn't recommend going swimming Sunday, even if the skies are beginning to clear," he said.

Time for dry dock

Ocean City Councilman Joe Hall said it's important to be concerned and prepared, but not worried, due to the "ample warning" the town typically has in regards to hurricanes.

"You just have to take the precautions necessary to protect life and property," Hall said. One of the preemptive measures he has taken is to remove his boat from the water and put it in storage, a commonality among boat owners in the area in the days before a serious storm.

The phone has been ringing off the hook at Harbor Marine, a boat sales, service and storage business on Sunset Avenue in West Ocean City. Customers are calling now to get their vessels out of the water before Saturday, when they'll keep them in until October, according to office manager Monica Shoemaker.

News of a forthcoming hurricane can cause mixed feelings for surfers in the area, said Lee Gerachis, owner of Malibu Surf Shop. Many are excited at the potential to see surf of a quality rare to the area but they also don't want any destruction.

Ideally, the surfing community hopes for the storm to be trapped about 150 miles off the coast, which
generates a good surf with beautiful weather, Gerachis said. If it's close enough to cause much damage, the winds are often too powerful for surfing safely.
 

"According to the generated computer models I've seen, it's not looking too favorable," he said.

 

In Wicomico County, David Shipley, the newly appointed director of emergency management, as well as officials from the county's Department of Public Works are closely watching storm models.

"The track of the storm is really going to drive exactly what we do," said Shipley.





Public Works and first responders get periodic updates from Shipley, who said he plans on communicating with the public through news releases. If the power goes out and limits media access, the county can use its reverse 911 system to place automated messages to landlines and registered cellphones.

Watermen bracing for the hurricane began pulling up crab pots Wednesday; they expect to lose out financially because of the storm.

"I'm probably not going to work for another week or so," said Billy Welch, a waterman out of Crisfield.

He pulled 250 crab pots on Wednesday, and anticipates pulling another 250 today.

"They cost about $30 apiece and they won't stand a lot of wind; they will get rolled up and lost."
Power outages could affect the area even further during the storm, and the Maryland State Fire Marshal urged residents Wednesday to use flashlights instead of candles, if possible, and to proceed cautiously if using and refueling a portable generator.
 

» Staff Writer Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.

 

Accountant facing 10-year sentence

SNOW HILL -- Accountant William W. Scott was found guilty on three counts of theft, convicted of stealing more than $800,000 from three Ocean City condominium associations.

Judge Richard Bloxom said the state's evidence -- which included a recorded confession Scott voluntarily gave to the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation -- and the testimony of multiple witnesses proved to him there was no reasonable doubt Scott had taken money that did not belong to him and he was not authorized to take.

Two of Scott's crimes carry a sentence of 20 years, with 10 years suspended and five subsequent years of probation, while the third carries a sentence of 15 years with five years suspended and five years of probation. The sentences will be served concurrently, meaning Scott is likely to be incarcerated for 10 years total. Restitution will be included in the sentence, at an amount to be determined at a later time.

During sentencing, Scott, 37, of Bishopville tearfully apologized to his victims and family, and told the court he had secured two job offers within the state where, if he avoided prison time, he could begin working toward paying back the association members from whom he'd stolen the money.

"I want to make things right," he said.

Scott told the court he thought initially that his exit strategy from his financial problems would be to take his own life, but that he ultimately decided against it, saying he couldn't abandon his six-year-old son.

His wife, Elizabeth, tearfully urged Bloxom to give Scott a short enough prison sentence to allow him to contribute more positively to society and his family. "He is a good person," she said. Chasity Simpson, Scott's public defender, asked for leniency based on Scott's voluntary confession.

Scott acknowledged that since his crimes had become public knowledge, some of his family members have distanced themselves from him. There has also been disdain and public confrontation from former clients and others. Scott admitted he had been trusted by many of the people he stole from.

Bloxom told Scott he felt the court's sentence had to reflect society's "condemnation" of Scott and its "repugnance" at the crimes he committed. Bloxom shared an anecdote from his days as a Worcester County public defender, when a client of his had been convicted of theft and felt he'd received too stiff a sentence.

"He said, 'You know, it seems to me like the more money you steal, the less time you serve,'" Bloxom said.

The judge said there is a perception that sentences are "disproportionately lenient" in cases like Scott's, where the perpetrator has never before been in trouble with the law and has been trusted with other peoples' finances.

Bloxom went on to say the court had no reason to doubt the sincerity of his aforementioned apologies, but his thefts were "staggering in their amount," and the manner in which they were executed were "surprising and shocking" in their deviousness.

Scott was acquitted of one theft charge wherein he was accused of stealing money from an individual who had mailed him a check paying for a portion of her condo fees. Bloxom ruled that Scott had been stealing from her condo association, and not her, since Scott was authorized by the association to collect dues.

The amount of restitution Scott owes will be determined once it is decided what the associations are to do with money Scott occasionally transferred between the entities' accounts.