Published: June 25, 2008 10:09 pm      

Man gets jail for stripping home before sale

MERCER, Pa. — A former Mercer County mortgage broker who gutted his $1.2 million home before a sheriff’s sale has been sentenced to three to 15 months in jail and must pay more than $174,000 to an insurance company.

Authorities say 40-year-old Scott McCuskey, of Sharpsville, stripped cabinets, toilets, a Jacuzzi, locks, garage doors and other items. He was convicted of defrauding creditors and fraud in insolvency in April.

McCuskey unsuccessfully argued to Mercer County Judge Thomas Dobson on Tuesday that he didn’t know he couldn’t take the items. His home was collateral on a loan he defaulted on in 2004.

Dobson, noting McCuskey worked as a mortgage broker, didn’t accept the argument.

After the home was stripped, it was valued at $180,000.

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Information from: The Herald, http://www.sharon-herald.com