After admitting to stealing thousands of dollars worth of property from the university, Clinton Teeter was ready to go to jail, his attorney said yesterday.
Tim Flemming, Teeter's attorney, said yesterday before his scheduled sentencing that a plea bargain had been reached between Teeter, 27, and Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane that would allow him to serve a total of 11 1/2 months in Centre County prison.
But because the prosecuting attorney was not present, a judge granted Teeter one more month of freedom before his sentencing Oct. 18.
Flemming said according to the plea agreement, Teeter would serve concurrent sentences in a drug and alcohol facility for each of the 26 counts he pleaded guilty to, followed by five years of probation.
Flemming said the agreement was made between Teeter and Sloane because Teeter had a "substance" addiction.
"He understands and takes responsibility for his actions and recognizes that he had a problem and he has to deal with it," Flemming said.
After discussing the terms of the plea, but before continuing the hearing, the judge called lawyers for both parties to the bench.
It was not clear after the continuation of the sentencing if the terms of the agreement would still stand.
Flemming said the judge ruled for a continuance so that he could hear from Sloane before granting a sentence.
According to court documents, Teeter, a resident of Port Matilda, was arrested Feb. 1 on 23 counts of burglary, 23 counts of theft by unlawful taking, 23 counts of receiving stolen property and 22 counts of possessing instruments of a crime.
According to criminal complaints, Teeter stole property from Rec Hall, the Nittany Landscape Building, the Physical Plant Building and Noll Lab between Nov. 24, 2004 and November 2005.
Teeter was accused of accessing various buildings using a key he obtained while he was a Penn State employee in the wage-payroll department, according to court documents. He is no longer a Penn State employee.
Court documents state that Teeter would use the key to enter various offices across the University Park campus.
